Ancient Terror from the Arctic Depths
by Darkmoose84
Summary: Eight years after Weirdmageddon. The Stan twins have discovered something in the arctic and established a research center for excavating the artifacts and solving the mystery of what could be below the dark depths of the arctic waters. Something will go wrong, and Dipper, Mabel, Pacifica, and Wendy will need to investigate. There will be some Dipcifica, but it won't be THE plot.
1. Prologue: Speedboat

**This of course is the prologue to a longer story that I'll be writing. Hope you enjoy. And if the OCs in the chapter come off as boring, not that interesting, or Mary Sue-ish, don't worry; I only planned on using them in this chapter. That is, unless you want to see more of them. Anyways, hope you enjoy the ridiculousness of this one.**

Honolulu, Hawaii, October 16th, 2012

Ford looked out the enclosure of the Mai Tai Bar, past Stan and the woman who was hanging off of him, towards the darkening blue sky. He could see the sun off to the far west, the shades of evening drawing upon the gorgeous beaches. The sunlight glistened on the ocean waves as they rolled into the tan earth. He never dreamed he would have finally made it back here, back to his home world and to such a wonderful resort.

After the past few months, he and his brother had earned it.

"Yeah, my brother and I decided we'd travel around a bit," Stan said to the woman that was awkwardly leaning on his shoulder, "We kind of had a rough couple of months and needed the time off."

"Oh, that's awesome," said the woman, raising her eyebrows. With the way she was moving, it was obvious she had several margaritas. "My friend and I just got back from my great niece's wedding. She thought this would be a good spot for both the wedding and honeymoon."

"Ugh," Stan groaned, "Good for her, but she doesn't know what she's getting into. I tried it once years ago. Didn't quite work out so well."

"You're telling me," the woman sighed back, slurring her words as she went, "So did I. Guy turned into a major prick shortly afterwards." She leaned over and took another sip of her daiquri she had just ordered. "I'm Nancy, by the way."

"Stan Pines, man of mystery," he replied. They both laughed.

Ford looked over and saw Stan try to casually pop a blue pill he had in his pocket while Nancy wasn't looking and down it from another swig of the Kona he was drinking. He shook his head, as he of course knew what was coming next.

As the two continued chattering, Ford took out his phone and unlocked it. The first thing that appeared on the screen was his inbox. New messages began flooding in from when last he checked. He casually read through them, as they could be important.

They read as follows:

FROM: FlippinCorduroy

"Hey Pines Brothers,

"I've been missing you both. Hope you're doing well on your world sailing adventure thing. Man, I wish I could have joined you guys. High school in a small town sucks. At least my friends are doing well...despite what happened. I'm also thinking about going into my father's lumber business. Love working in the woods, and all the exploration I did with Dipper and Mabel made me realize how much I love working outside. Waaaaaayyy better than being stuck in a shop behind a counter. Hey, I had an idea that I wanted to run past you guys. I was thinking about what you said about the destiny wheel and was wondering if we could form our own little group around it. It'd be like some awesome blood bond we could form together. I emailed Dipper and Mabel but haven't heard back. Robbie and Soos are on board with it. Still need to ask more people involved. Anyways, let me know what you think. It was just an idea I had. Think about it, dudes. Our own little kick-ass secret society. The Destiny Wheel Clan! (I'll let you know when I come up with a better title) Talk to you later! Bye!"

FROM: PoorlittlerichNWgirl

"Ford,

"You seem to be the more down-to-earth, sensible Pines twin, so I thought I'd reach out to you. I think the condo my family bought is haunted. Apparently this guy who used to work for one of my father's businesses fell down the stairs after a night of binge drinking. He received a paycut one day, and then his wife left him. I know this because it was written in blood on the wall of my room one night. Then it caught fire and disappeared. Then I heard a cackle through the house. Please help. Is there anyone in this town my family hasn't hurt? I have a lot to do if I'm going to fix my stupid family's name. Just so frustrated right now. Do you know Dipper and Mabel's numbers or emails? I didn't get a chance to ask them before they left. They at least made things interesting, no matter how dangerous. If you could let me know, I would appreciate it. Thanks. PS: Does Dipper have a girlfriend yet?"

FROM: CHIUBot99

"Hello Mr. Pines,

"Hope you are doing well on your world wide cruise. It's like a road trip, but with water. Anyways, music camp was fun but draining. I was eager to get back to Gravity Falls and to school. After what happened with the shack, I've become very interested in advanced robotics. There's a project I have in mind that I would like to build. I'm thinking of calling them the MO series after one of my distant relatives nicknamed Moe. Moe is such a funny and awesome name. But the first one I've got a design for is called BMO. It will be able to play games, make jokes, and dance. Do you think McGuckett would help me build it now that he has a new lab in the mansion? Anyways, that's all for now. Enjoy your trip. Bye!"

Ford exited his email app, (he would reply to them later) and opened his map. He moved the retical down to the south end of South America and found the red blip that indicated what he was meant to track. He watched as the dot moved north, a time lapse of years from 1997 to the present scrolling on the right hand side, until the dot reached the Bering Sea.

"I knew it was at least close to the Arctic Ocean," Ford muttered to himself.

"Hey, is that your brother," Nancy asked, pointing.

"Yeah," Stan said, half sighing, "And it looks like he's back on his nerd stuff again. But to tell you the truth, that nerd stuff is why we're sailing around the world in the first place."

"That's awesome!" Nancy exclaimed, "You two look so much alike! Are you twins?"

"Yeah," Stan said, "It has its advantages sometimes." He immediately flashed back to two months ago, staring down at his palm, feeling the burn of Bill's touch all over again.

"Hey, I'll invite my friend over," Nancy said, "He looks lonely." She signaled to her friend to come over from their table.

"Sometimes, I think he prefers it that way," Stan said, "But, yeah, he should live a little."

"Hey, do you want to get out of here?" Nancy said, jerking her head to the side to signal him to follow. Stan looked back at Ford, still fixated on his phone. There was part of him that was afraid to leave him, but he shook it off pretty quickly. He was a big boy and wouldn't fall into another portal anytime soon.

Nancy's friend walked over, and after a momentary discussion Ford couldn't hear, the three walked over to him.

"Hey Ford, this is Tanya," Stan said, "She said she might be interested in listening to your nerdy stuff."

"Privyet!" Tanya said.

"Excuse me?" Ford asked before recognizing the language. He looked her over, not really making much effort to hide it, but she didn't seem to mind. He wondered how an older woman could pull off a look in a skirt that short, but she did quite well. It had been awhile since a man had looked at her like that.

"Sorry, hello," Tanya answered, her accent obviously Russian, "I couldn't help but notice you're looking at a map of the Bering Sea?"

"Yes," Ford responded, "My brother and I are about to go exploring there soon."

"Amazing," Tanya continued, "I used to work around that area several decades ago, studying the plant life there."

"Botany is an important field," Ford said. He looked past her to see Stan wave goodbye while he and Nancy walked off. He didn't see where they were going, but he didn't exactly want to know either.

"So, what brings you to Hawaii if you're heading for the Bering Sea?" Tanya asked.

"Just a brief vacation," Ford answered, remembering that he had some Irish whiskey in front of him and taking a sip from it, "We had a very hard few months, so taking some time off seemed important."

"Where are you originally from?"

"A small town in Oregon called Gravity Falls," Ford answered, "It's fairly notorious for odd happenings, so my interest in para-science brought me out there. I thought I might further mine and mankind's understanding of the preternatural."

"That's one of the reasons I got into botany," Tanya responded, "I thought I might be able to contribute something to the human race."

"So what brings you to Hawaii?" Ford asked.

"My best droog Nancy brought me out here for her great-niece's wedding. We've known each other for a very long time, since her parents moved from America to Russia. We didn't used to be friends. When we were just girls, she struck me as a little too silly for my taste. But of course given my strict upbringing, I wasn't open to the thought of being a free spirit. It took some time to break away from my family's tight grip."

"Sounds like a family friend I know," Ford said.

"But back on the Bering Sea subject," Tanya redirected, "What might you and your brother be studying there?"

"How familiar are you of the discovery of the Bloop?" Ford asked.

"I've heard of it," Tanya responded, "Didn't it involve some sort of unknown undersea sound?"

"Yes," Ford continued, "It began with a deep sea recording in 1997 near the southern end of South America. Since then, some scientists have secretly been tracking its movements. It seems that whatever creature this is, it's been moving north." He looked back at the map. The blip had moved again. "And now it looks like we'll be searching for it near St. Lawrence Island."

"That's actually very fascinating," Tanya said, "I've got my own strange story. A couple decades ago, they flew me out from Moscow to Beringovsky because something was going on with the summer vegetation there, despite the new regulations on pollution from the coal mines. More people were getting sick, and there didn't seem to be an explanation for it. Some ocean and marine experts traced that some unidentified bacteria was coming in from the coastal waters. They eventually traced it further south into the Bering and decided to try and send a team to find the source. We lost contact with them for a day, but when their boat came back, the crew were in an almost catatonic state, and their hair had all gone white. None of them would speak for the next few days, and when they finally did, they couldn't recall anything that had occurred. It was almost like a piece of missing time for them."

"Fascinating," Ford replied. "Perhaps there is more going on there than we thought..."

The two traded paranormal stories for another hour until they noticed the sun was finally setting. Ford checked the time on his phone.

"Say," he said, "Would you like to see our boat?"

"Oh, dah," Tanya replied.

The two proceeded to the Stan-O-War III. A large whale had capsized and destroyed their second iteration of the ship, so the Pines brothers ensured that this one would be much more reinforced. It was much broader, and could obviously fit two rooms within it for long travels. There was a post-it note on the side of it with the words "Permit to dock here" written on it. Ford shook his head at this.

As they boarded the ship, Nancy was leaving the main cabin onto the ship, adjusting her top as she went.

"Oh, hey," she said, "Glad you're here. This boat is amazing."

"I can just imagine," Tanya replied.

Ford moved passed them as they continued their conversation and walked into the main cabin where Stan was sitting on one of the couches.

"I thought you said you got a permit for docking here," Ford said.

"I did," Stan said, "It just happened to be one I made. For all they know, their clerical team could be using post-it notes for today." No sooner had he said that then they heard a security jeep outside.

"Hey," a young man's voice shouted from outside, "Who gave you permission to dock here? Where are your permits?"

"Ah, crap," said Stan, poking his head out of the cabin, "We gotta get out of here. You girls can go if you want. Didn't mean to drag you into this."

"What?" Nancy said, "Hell no. You brought us here. We'll head out with you."

"Nancy," Tanya started in, "Are you sure we should? I was hoping for a trouble free day, not like last time you dragged me into one of your schemes."

"We're not exactly young anymore," Nancy said, "Who knows how many adventures we have left? Besides, it won't be the first time."

"Why do I feel like I've missed something?" Stan said.

"We'll talk about that later," Ford said, "Right now, everyone get strapped in. I guarantee you that you've not seen a boat this fast." After all were strapped into their seats in the cabin, Ford steered the boat away from the shore, and having the rear of the ship facing the shore, he then powered the hyper drive. The group's heads were pressed to the back of their seats as the ship rapidly flew from the dock and from the city out into the ocean. The wooshing sound from around them drowned out the fact that the security officer was cursing in bewilderment. It reminded them of something from Star Wars. They could barely hear Ford say something about, "Hang on. We need to turn around." Before long, they could see blips past the windows that were the islands of St. Paul and St. Matthew.

Finally, with one big jolt, the boat stopped. There was a moment of silence as the shock wore away.

"And you were going to tell me about this feature when?" Stan asked.

"It was a surprise." Ford said, "I installed the quantum core drive last week."

"I personally thought it was amazing," Tanya said, "But where are we?"

"Yeah," Nancy said, shivering, "It's freezing all of a sudden."

"We're all the way in the Bering Sea," Ford said, "Hang on. Going to fix this." He pressed another button, and two poles came out of the deck of the ship. Heat emitters folded out from them, immediately enveloping the craft in a pocket of warmth.

"That's better," Tanya said.

"Are you James Bond or something?" Nancy said.

"More like Q, the gadget man," Stan said, "All the suave went this direction." He pointed at himself.

"Sure," Nancy replied, laughing.

Before long, Ford had brought out the equipment he needed for testing for oceanic sounds. He setup a radar to pick up any signs of movement, along with a microphone attached to a ridiculously long cable. After explaining the plan, he began the automatic crank to lower the microphone into the pitched dark depths.

"This is where my app predicted the next possible location of the creature might be," Ford said.

"How accurate do you think that thing is?" Stan asked, a hint of doubt in his voice.

"We're about to find out."

They waited for several minutes, but in surprisingly quick time, there was a blip on the radar. Ford rushed over and put on the headphones, hoping to hear something. There was a low rustling sound, followed by what sounded like a howl.

"I'm getting something," Ford said, "I just can't make it out."

"Let me hear," Tanya said, yanking the headphones off of him and putting them on herself.

"Your friend doesn't hold back when she wants something, does she?" Stan asked Nancy.

"You have no idea," Nancy replied.

There was another blip on the radar. Something was coming. Something big.

All of a sudden, the ship shook violently as gargantuan tentacles rose up and crashed against the deck nearest the stern. Out of the waters rose a colossal squid, this one much bigger than the one that attacked the Stan-O-War II back in September.

"Look out!" Ford shouted. But before he could grab his blaster from his coat, one of the tentacles picked up and enwrapped Tayna.

"Hang on, Tanya," Nancy said, whipping out a Walther PPK from her handbag, "This bitch aint taking us down!" She blasted three or four tentacles off the deck but found she couldn't quite hit the tentacle holding Tanya, not without accidentally shooting her.

Ford finally loosened the laser cannon in his coat and blasted the creature at the base of its tentacle. It screeched out in pain at such a decibel that Stan and Nancy had to hold their ears for a moment. It loosened its grip on Tanya enough so that it was only holding her by her ankle.

Tanya grabbed something from one of her skirt's pockets and threw it at the creature's tentacle holding her. It was a vial of some sulfuric acid that caused the creature to screech again, releasing her and dropping her to the deck with a thud. She ran next to Ford, who then stepped out in front of her to see if he could get a better shot.

The squid began to rise higher out of the waters. It emitted a blue glow and began hovering over the waters and the boat.

"I'll swallow your souls!" It seemed to project into their minds.

"Swallow this!" Stan shouted. And with that, he quickly equipped his brass knuckles, ran down the deck, leapt over the stern, and punched the creature square in its three-lobed, burning eye. It yelped one last time, thrashing its tentacles about into the water before sinking down once again into inky blackness below.

There was yet another pause as everyone regained their awareness.

"Where did you girls come from?" Stan had to ask.

"We're probably not what you think we are," Nancy said, "although, we haven't lied to you. We were there for my great-niece's wedding."

"And I am a licensed botanist," Tanya interrupted, "But…"

"You can tell us later," Ford said, "We'll all sit down and have a discussion over it. Right now, I think we're on to something here. Something's obviously trying to keep us from finding it. The weird psychic squid monster was proof enough of that. I for one am determined to keep up this momentum and find what's at the bottom of these depths."

Several months later, Stan and Ford would found their research center on the coast of St. Lawrence Island. The Northwest family would supply the revenue knowing that it would be a good investment in order to get back on their feet. The contributions could later go to universities and museums, supplying a rich amount of material for both the scientific and anthropological communities.

Digging too deep, however, would be this endeavor's undoing.

It was only a matter of time before something went wrong.


	2. Miskatonic Days

**Yay, another one finished. Let's see how many cliches we can put into one chapter, shall we? Anyway, I hope it's still entertaining, despite that I clearly borrowed from a LOT of other media. But it helps if you make a game out of it. Spot the reference time! Anyways, enjoy.**

"Running down a dream/It never would come to me/Working on a mystery/Going wherever it leads/Running down a dream." - Tom Petty

Arkham, Massachusetts October 6th, 2020

Dipper found himself strapped to a bed. Having tried to move his arms, he found that they were shackled to the sides of the thin, uncomfortable cot on which he was laying. As his eyes adjusted, he found that he was bound to a hospital gurney in the middle of a small room. The room was dark, save for some soft, dim blue light that came from the filthy, crusted-over window. The walls in the room looked just as horrendously dirty, covered in what looked like rust or mud.

Blood perhaps, or was that too much of a cliché here? He didn't really want to know.

Either way, he was alone in a dark, soundless void of a room, not knowing how he had gotten there.

He struggled with the straps a little further and found that he was slowly loosening them. At length, he found that he now had one free arm. Whoever had placed him there did not do a very good job. The hospital straps weren't even buckled, just tight from all the grime on the ropes. Above all, there was a low ticking sound, that began pervading the room. Dipper leaned upward on the bed, listening for the sound as he freed his other arm. It was coming from the clock on the far wall. One minute until midnight. It grew louder and louder every instant. It increased Dipper's agitation of spirit as a drum beat entices a dancer at a rave. All the while, there was the ever present thirst within Dipper's mouth, like he had been parched for days in the Nevada deserts. He looked over at the table and found a glass of water. As soon as he had finished loosening his other arm, he would take a swig. For all he knew, it was poisoned or drugged somehow, but with the burning dryness in his mouth and throat, he had to take that risk.

And the ticking clock grew louder and louder, droning for what felt like ages. It grew so loud, Dipper perceived his ear drums were going to explode.

At length, both arms were free. Dipper lunged for the glass, and gripping it as tight as he could was ready to gulp down its contents. But just as the clock sound seemed that it would not get any louder, he saw some small shadowy creature skitter loudly across the floor and under the gurney, startling him and causing him to drop the glass, which promptly shattered into innumerable pieces.

Was it a rat, a spider, a king crab, some interdimensional monster? Whatever it was, it was now directly under Dipper, waiting.

But upon dropping the glass, the ticking of the clock ceased, and the sound seemed to transfer out into the hall in the form of loud, deliberate footsteps. Now his problems were twofold. On the one-hand, he had some creature underneath the gurney on which he lay, and on the other, there was someone coming in his direction in this dark, dingy, seemingly abandoned location.

Survival instinct kicked in, and Dipper did what he did best and prioritized his first order of business.

He peeked under the gurney. Nothing. Despite the shadows, he could still see well enough that the creature had gone. Either that, or it was never there from the beginning. Could it be behind him? He checked the walls behind him and found nothing. He had also noticed that the pieces of the glass he had dropped had disappeared as well, as if they had been absorbed into the crusty tile grout below him.

He finally moved off of the gurney, feeling that it was now safe for him to proceed and ran to the wall next to the door and pressed his back to it. He counted the steps as they made their way down the hallway to his door. Each one sounding as if it carried the weight of an elephant, but that of course was only because of the dead silence from the rest of the room.

They eventually made their way to the door and stopped abruptly. Dipper held his breath as we waited for whatever this thing was to come barreling through the rusty door. The anticipation was what killed him the most, waiting for what did not belong in this world to greet him. He exhaled and let out a whisper of "Oh, God, no. Please, no." He closed his eyes, knowing he could not face whatever was outside that wanted to examine and test him further, perhaps forever. He kept them shut as he heard the knob tumblers fumble and crank as whatever it was jostled the handle from outside. Dipper kept his eyes closed, knowing that if he saw anything further, he would go mad. At length, it ceased, and the footsteps began again down the hallway. Dipper opened his eyes and listened as the footsteps grew softer and softer as they thankfully distanced themselves from him.

With all the courage he had gained over the years, he gradually opened the door to an equally dark blue, filthy hallway. He proceeded outside to find no one in his immediate vicinity, but as he looked to his right, he saw a light from the elevator at the far end, and a rapidly twitching, vibrating figure standing inside. It looked like someone from the post-World War 1 videos of those who came back with shellshock, but it had a long beard, a long dark coat, and stood on what looked like goat's legs.

The door shut, and the figure was gone.

Dipper watched as the lights above the elevator showed which floor to which the figure was heading. The basement. Dipper felt some compelling urge in him (always the mystery seeker) to follow whoever this was and see who or what they were but not before looking back at the hospital room in which he had awakened. On the door was a grimy plastic holder, and in it was a file labeled PINES, DIPPER. He picked it up and examined its contents.

The file read as followed, "Pines, Dipper. Suffers from delusional denial. Watched most of his friends, including his sister and girlfriend, die in front of him from some unknown assailant. Still insists that they are alive and has imaginary conversations with them. Therapy sessions are still continuing, but it is unlikely he will ever fully accept that they are gone."

It was at this point Dipper realized this must be a dream. His last girlfriend broke up with him after she moved, and last time he checked, Mabel was still very much alive. He dropped the file on the ground, which promptly disappeared. (Dream logic) He proceeded down the hallway towards the elevator. He pressed the button down. The lights gradually went back up to the third floor, on which he was, apparently. He entered the elevator, somewhat grateful for the off-white light within it, and pressed the button with the large B in faded white paint.

Upon reaching the bottom, the doors creaked open. The buzz from the flickering lights seemed like it was burrowing into Dipper's skull. The first thing he saw was more gurneys lining the grimy corridor. Each one had a body on it, complete with toe tag. He proceeded out of the elevator and into the putrid-smelling hallway.

Curiosity got the better of him, and he felt compelled to examine the first tag. It was an older looking foot, and the name on it read, "Pines, Stan." For a moment, he forgot that this was a dream, and his heart sank at the thought of his Grunkle having passed without him knowing. He shook his head and thought logically again. This was still a dream. It had to be.

He checked the next toe tag further on, this being a young woman's foot. "Corduroy, Wendy."

He choked back a moment, and kept having to remind himself this wasn't real. He proceeded further on. There were two more shoved off in the corner of the hall, as if less important, forgotten. It was as if the hospital staff shoved them aside without care. He moved towards them. Both of them were also the feet of young women, and he knew what they were going to say before he even read them.

"Pines, Mabel" and "Northwest, Pacifica."

He doubled over in pain, his gut churning, his heart beating nearly out of his chest. He couldn't breathe. He felt dizzy. Was he dying, too? The thought of the file he read on the third floor rang out in his mind.

No, this couldn't be real. He wouldn't let it be real. This was only a dream, but he would see this through to the end. Dream or not, he would solve its mystery.

His steadied himself back up on Mabel's resting place. His heart still pounded, but he looked further around the corner of the hallway.

At the end of the hall, roughly 20 feet away, were a pair of double doors with the number 22 scrolled across them. He slowly moved towards the door, half expecting the twitching goat hobo he saw in the elevator to pop out and grab him by the arm. But that didn't happen. Instead the doors automatically swung open with an electronic groan. Inside were more bodies, all lined up uniformly on either side, the far wall being nothing but inky blackness.

Dipper thought he could see something moving in the darkness but couldn't make out what it was. Then he realized it was almost as if several things were moving in the dark. Either that, or the darkness itself was alive.

As Dipper soon discovered, it may as well have been the latter.

Suddenly, red eyes burst forth along nearly every part of the wall. From between them gave enormous black twisting tentacles. This was not a multitude of creatures but rather a gargantuan aberration that clung like mold to the far wall.

"Tekeli-li, tekeli-li," some disembodied voice whispered.

The creature then shrieked and burst forth from the wall. It rushed like a subway train towards Dipper and...

Dipper woke up with a start. He had laid his head down on the desk just for a few minutes in the video lab while reviewing footage of his and his friends' recent urban exploration of the famous abandoned Arkham sanitarium that had closed down in the early 1990's. There had been numerous urban legends surrounding it, so it was natural they had wanted to explore it. On the video, Dipper came to the part where Beth thought she heard something down in the morgue, saying something about a strange whisper. After shaking off the sleep, he paused the video, ran it back, and increased the volume slightly.

At that moment, his friend and fellow media production major Brad walked in the room.

"Dude, you're looking over it again?" He asked.

"Yeah," Dipper said, still half asleep, "still need to see if we can isolate that whisper and make out what it's saying."

"If you think you can," Brad said, "All Beth and I could hear were the overhead pipes whistling." He brought in the rest of the video equipment they had used last weekend in their internship with the Arkham chapter of Ghost Harassers. "Oh, I ran into your sister on the way over here. She says she wants you to go visit her dorm in a few minutes. She's going to call some of your Oregon friends on Skype in a few minutes, and apparently they really need to speak with you, too."

"Sure," Dipper said, half paying attention, "I'll head up there as soon as I get another listen to this." And once again, he was fully focused on his work, holding one part of his headphones close to his ear. After he and Tiffany, a girl he met his freshman year, split last summer after she moved, he had done what he always did and threw himself further into his research.

"Dude, I'll take another listen to it if you're really insistent something's there," Brad said, walking over and taking the headphones from him, "For your own sanity, just break away from this for a minute. Beth and I are both worried about you. You've just been running yourself ragged."

"You know me," Dipper said, getting up from the table, "always hard working."

"Yeah, but sleep's important, too," Brad said, "Just go visit your sister. I've got this."

"Thanks," Dipper said, "Take care." With that, he left the video lab and the building.

He could already tell that October had finally fallen on Miskatonic University. The crisp New England fall air enlivened him, and he felt the onset of the season again. The evening sun glazed across the red, yellow, and green leaves of the campus trees. As Dipper made his way across the campus, he watched students go to and fro: a group of girls talking about some reality show they were going to watch; some guys playing football; a couple walking together and holding each other close. The Omega Omega Omega fraternity was hoisting a banner across its archway for its fall break party for next week, reading "Cthulhu's Nightmares. All students welcome, member, pledge, or otherwise! We all end up dead or mad anyway! Come enjoy the spooky fun while you still can!"

After finally reaching Mabel's dorm. He punched in the keypad to get inside and took the elevator up to her room. Various brightly colored stickers decorated the door, and before he could knock, there came a loud screech. This didn't phase him; he was used to some insane sound coming from her at some point. He knocked nonetheless.

"IT'S OPEN!" Mabel yelled from inside, and Dipper proceeded in.

Mabel put down her knitting supplies and jumped up to hug him. She could also see the bags under his eyes and knew he'd been staying up again.

"Dipper, remember what I said about sleeping?" Mabel asked rhetorically.

"Yeah, I remember," Dipper droned, "Just, I had some possible lead on a new sound we found in the sanitarium and..."

"Nope, not more important than your health," Mabel chided, "after we talk, you're going back to your dorm and getting some rest. Got it?"

"Got it," Dipper laughed.

"Hey, Dipper man!" he heard Wendy shout from Mabel's laptop. On the Skype chat, she was leaning over Pacifica's shoulder, who had a full-on nervous look on her face. "How's college life treating you?"

"Ah, same old, same old," Dipper said, "Got a paper on investigative journalism by the end of the week. How are you girls this fine Tuesday afternoon? How's the lumber biz?"

"It's going," Wendy said, "We're going to be shipping some new lumber tomorrow while making sure we grow some more trees in another region." Wendy backed off of the camera and poked Pacifica in the side. "Say hi, Paz."

"Hey dork," Pacifica said, a mix of playfulness and nervousness in her tone. Right now, she was feeling a lump in her gut, as if she were expecting something to go wrong or that she needed to present herself at her utmost pristine. Her heart was beating faster, but she couldn't tell.

Dipper could see her nervousness and was a little curious why, but he didn't press it. Did she have gas or something? Nevertheless, he did think she looked exceptionally pretty today. It had been awhile since he had seen her. Was she wearing even more makeup than usual?

"Hey, Pacifica," Dipper said, "How's the marketing biz at McGuckett Industries?" Pacifica had began working for McGuckett as his junior marketing director while she studied business at Portland State University. He even let her stay in her old room in the mansion; as soon as she could, she got out of her parents' house and never looked back. It was nice also getting to see Candy and Grenda as well, as they worked in the new workshop on the first floor. Pacifica may not have been friends with them at first, but they grew closer over the years as they worked together.

"As well as can be, considering I'm still new to this marketing thing," Pacifica said.

"That teleporter idea Grenda had sounds so cool," Mabel chimed excitedly.

"Oh yeah," Pacifica said, "That's definitely one the US government is going to want to look at before she can make her first trip to Austria with it. What I'm actually kind of excited about, though, is the little robot Candy is making. She calls it her BMO project. I think it might be a big hit among the kids if we can market it that way."

"Paz, isn't there something you want to tell Dipper?" Wendy asked in a suggestive voice.

"Go ahead, Paz," Mabel said, equally suggestive.

"I'm all ears," Dipper said, sitting down with the laptop on the bed.

"Well, I..." Pacifica stammered for a moment before shaking her head and gaining a more serious tone, "You and Mabel's fall break is coming up next week, right?"

"Yup, but I thought I might take the time to study," Dipper said.

"Well, I was going to ask if you and her could fly in here and help me with something. McGuckett Industries will pay for the air fare, since it's kind of a big deal."

"What's going on?" Dipper asked.

"It's concerning your Grunkles' research and excavation base near Alaska," Pacifica continued, "As you know, McGuckett funds, supplies, and maintains it. One of the workers there sent us an email regarding some of the things that have been going on. So, apparently, there have been some things ranging from employee abuse to bizarre accidents, one of which resulted in a worked severely injuring himself and requiring a hospital leave. Our new chief of research had the worker go down to fix some of the lighting in the basement, despite being off of his shift and not receiving any overtime pay for it. He said he reported hearing some sort of eerie sounds, and after fixing the light, caught sight of what he thought was some kind of fish man biting at him before he fell and broke his leg."

"So you want me and Mabel to go investigate it?" Dipper asked. He was still holding his camera over his shoulder and gripped it tighter. Something about this thought excited him. It would be just like old times, Mabel and him chasing after a mystery.

"Right," Wendy added, "And I'd be going, too. If nothing, I can add moral support and muscle in case of anything."

"I just need someone to discreetly investigate this and record anything they find," Pacifica said, "If there's something fishy going on in the company, one that your Grunkles started no less, I think we're all interested in finding out what's going on."

"Well, alright then," Dipper said, "Count me in. Do I need to sign any sort of agreement or disclosure?"

"No," Pacifica said, "I promise I'll take care of that for you. Just..." she paused for a moment with a look of concern on her face, "just be sure that you and Mabel get here safe, okay?"

"Okay..." Dipper began, still trying to figure out why Pacifica was acting so weird, but before he could say anything further, Mabel pushed him off the bed on which he was sitting.

"Okay, bro bro," Mabel said, "Go take your nap. We're going to have some girl time here."

"Okay, well, have a good day," Dipper said, "Nice seeing you both."

"Nice seeing you, too," Wendy said.

"Take care," Pacifica squeaked out. The two of them looked at each other through the screen. She really did look pretty. How could he have not seen this before, each year that they had visited?

He turned and exited through the door.

"I could use some sleep, too," Mabel said, "These profs are really riding me this year. Just one new design project after another."

"So, how is the sweater business coming, Mabel?" Pacifica asked.

"Oh, I've got so many ideas planned for after I graduate here," Mabel said excitedly, "I have an Etsy account right now, but later I'm going to start my own consignment site and call it Mabel's Sweater Studios. We'll make just about any novelty sweater by request."

"If you need a marketing person, I'll help," Pacifica said.

"That'd be awesome!" Mabel exclaimed, "I know a little about presentation, but I'm definitely not the business person I know you are."

"Hey, we all have our talents," Pacifica responded.

"So when are you going to tell him?" Mabel asked playfully, drawing out the words.

"I don't know," Pacifica said, irritated, "It's just, you two were around me, and..."

"I get it," Wendy said in an understanding tone, "You're the type that needs privacy when saying what she feels."

"And you didn't get that from hanging out with me all these years because...?" Pacifica rhetorically asked.

"Because you said you would today," Wendy said.

"He's single now," Mabel said, "His last girlfriend dropped out of college and then cheated on him when they tried to do the long distance thing."

"Really?" Pacifica said, agitation in her voice that anyone would do that to him.

"Yeah, I never really liked her," Mabel said, "No Mabel seal of approval from me."

"But, Wendy, you're right," Pacifica said, "I need some privacy in order to say something to him. I waited for so long for him to make the first move that I thought he wasn't interested. Remember that time when you came to my 18th birthday, and I wore that low-cut top? He barely even noticed, just stuck in the text book he was studying. Don't get me wrong; I understand why he did it, and that's one of the great things about him..."

"Yeah," Wendy said, "Just always trying to stay one step ahead, studying for his mid-term two months ahead."

"And then, of course, I followed your advice after that," Pacifica continued, "that if he's not interested and won't give me the time of day, there's no use pining over him. So, I threw myself into my own studies, and it's gotten my pretty far."

"Right," Wendy said, "and I still hold by that. But I think with this trip, you have an opportunity to finally tell him how you really feel, finally get that weight off your chest. And if he says he's not interested, at least you finally know."

"I doubt he will," Mabel said, "Pacifica is too awesome to turn down. And it probably helps that we were thinking of moving to Oregon after we graduated."

"Awesome," Wendy said, "So then we'd get to see you both a lot more often!"

"Gravity Falls was such a big part of who we were growing up," Mabel continued, "that we felt like we should make it home. I'm sure it won't be too hard to find jobs there."

"And I can definitely help with that," Pacifica said, "I guess I'm just worried I missed my chance with him. I was such a bitch to you all when we were kids, and I'm hoping he still doesn't see me that way, and same goes for both of you."

"You don't need to apologize anymore," Wendy said, "You've turned over a new leaf in your life and have been a great friend ever since."

"We love you, Pacifica," Mabel said, "You're awesome. You just needed some time to grow up the same way we did."

"And, regarding Dipper," Wendy continued, "I think it's great that you followed my advice and found a good career path. You've proven you don't need to make anyone else your world; you're stronger than that. But if there's an opportunity for something great, don't waste it. At the very least, it'll make you feel better. Don't spend the rest of your life wondering 'what if.' You're 21; this is the time in your life you can afford to take at least a few chances. Life is too short to not have some risks."

"And if I have to," Mabel said, "I will push you two in a room together and lock it until you say something to him."

Pacifica smiled. She was determined; next time she saw Dipper, she would definitely tell him how she felt.

Dipper opened the door to his room and walked over to his desk. He would get some more studying on these case files finished for his essay before he would take Dr. Mabel's advice and rest before dinner. He had one that he had gotten from the Swollen Eyeball regarding a small green alien in San Jose, one that involved some gem-like aliens in Beach City, Delmarva, and finally another involving inter-dimensional monsters from a place they kept calling Muney or something like that. After each attack, investigators would find the words "Toffee lives!" scrolled on the wall somewhere.

His mind turned to again to his Gruncles' arctic research center, and the thought of a new mystery and adventure excited him again. This would be the perfect distraction from his own loneliness that hadn't left him from the summer.

He looked out the window and saw in the tree outside that there were two birds fluttering around a branch. He recognized them as the American Dipper, although he wondered what they would be doing in Massachusetts. (He recognized them from a nature show he watched once and remembered their name for obvious reasons) Batting their wings around the branch, it looked like they were dancing with each other. He thought again about all the people in his life, all the people that had been there for him in Gravity Falls, including Pacifica. The two of them had grown closer over the years with each visit; how could he have not seen she might be at least somewhat interested in him? That had to be why she was so nervous today. And she had improved quite a bit as time went on in terms of her temper and how she treated others. Not to mention, she was very pretty. When he saw her again, he would take his own risk and tell her how he felt.

For now, however, he continued his studies in both his investigations and in preparing for their trip to St. Lawrence Island. He thought back to his dream, at least what he could remember from it, and couldn't shake this ominous feeling of dread that something was there, waiting for him when he arrived. Was this a good idea after all? The temptation and curiosity to find out what could be going on there outweighed any doubt or fear he may have had. He who dares wins, after all.


	3. Confession, Passion, and Nightmare

**With the few comments I got from the last chapter, it was pretty clear that what readers are looking for is "spice." So in this chapter, there is plenty of fluff and spice. If you're really looking for the "spicy" part, skip to the part where she says "Get over here, Dummy." So I went outside my comfort zone and took a risk with this one. I just hope you'll stay for the monster show in the next chapters. Hope you enjoy.**

October 10th, 2020

Dipper and Mabel began their morning at one of the worst places on earth: the airport. Logan International was the closest to them, so naturally, they had to get up at the crack of dawn to drive from Arkham to Boston. Dipper drove, but Mabel passed out in the car. It wasn't exactly a restful sleep, as the shocks on Dipper's hoopty rental were all but gone. By the time that they had gotten through TSA security, having gone through the stress of taking off the shoes, the belt, and removing of the various articles of their bags, she was near dead on her feet.

"We're almost there," Dipper reminded her, "You'll be sleeping on the plane in no time."

"Ugh," Mabel groaned, "not soon enough. I sometimes envy Waddle's life; he can sleep whenever he pleases, where ever he pleases."

"Yeah," Dipper said, "But he's not welcome in most public places."

"True."

When their zone was finally called, they packed in line with all the other sweaty, loud, unpleasant people and gradually boarded the plane. Mabel noticed the weird pinkish yellow angora sweater in front of her, and it gave her a few ideas about what the sky might look like in a few hours. She would notate this for her later sweater design. Maybe she could find this weird color at the local fabric store. She got an aisle seat, as it would be much easier to rush to the restroom if the need arose, not to mention it was closer to the snack cart. The moment she saw it, she ordered a vodka/Sprite mix, gulped it down, and closed her eyes.

"Ah! At last," she said with her usual big grin, "Some nice peaceful rest."

Mabel found herself underwater when she opened her eyes. She didn't bother questioning how she had gotten there or how she could breathe. No, this moment was for her, and she was now a mermaid at long last. She looked down and sure enough, her feet had turned into a hot pink scaly fish tail. She swam around through the gorgeous light and dark viridian waters. A variety of sea life swam past her and said hello in perfect English, from a tiny seahorse to a baby dolphin. The sun shown down from the surface of the waters, casing what was almost a rainbow-like effect across the sea floor and all of its flora. At last, she was living her Lisa Frank pop art dream.

She swam for what she knew were hours but it felt like minutes. She had one thing in mind: to find her friend Mermando. The two still kept in touch despite the distance and years. Each summer, they wrote each other about what was going on in their lives. Thankfully, he had broken off the wedding with his manatee bride, which nearly incited a war (because, you know, manatees are such intimidating creatures after all) until he pointed out the fact that he needed to further his education and training as king of the sea, having been away from his family and kingdom for so long and for the fact that he was freaking 12 years old at the time. This at least gave him the freedom to be himself for some time and stay in touch with Mabel. Unfortunately, he had not written back in a couple of months, causing Mabel to worry about what happened to him.

Mabel returned to her immediate thoughts and focused on her situation. She eventually found that she was going near what she knew in her mind to be the point of the southern Pacific Ocean at exactly 47°9'S 126°43'W. She could no longer see the sea floor, only inky blackness below her. She swam downward. It just seemed like what she needed to do, though she was incapable of questioning why.

She squinted through the dark waters and saw with what little light she had left what looked like a couple of mermen fighting some beastly hulking fishmen, not unlike Pacifica described in the worker's report. She could hear some muffled fighting and grunts, as whatever cartoon logic that allowed her to hear the earlier fish's hellos had faded.

It looked like the mermen were losing.

Below them, however, was something worse, but she couldn't tell what it was. She heard a large grown, and in the blackness beneath them grew something dark, unknown, and hideous.

Suddenly, black tentacles and claws burst up at her.

She caught her breath and awoke.

"Sleep okay?" Dipper asked, taking another sip of his Jack and coke, "you kinda drooled on me earlier."

"I did until the end," Mabel said, "What is it about eldritch monsters and tentacles? We're not in some pervy anime." She looked down at her phone and scrolled through the pictures. "Why can't they be nice and wear top hats and go to tea parties like this little guy." She held up her phone with a picture of a cute tiny red octopus with an obviously photoshopped top hat, monocle, and tea cup in one tentacle with a caption that read, 'Gud day, hoomans!'

"If only," Dipper said. He gulped down the rest of this drink and looked out the window. Thanks to the new fuel efficient planes, there was no more need for another layover, meaning they were headed straight for their destination. Through the clouds, he could see the mountains of Alaska. Snow glazed across the peaks like frosted sugar over chocolate. Soon, he would see Wendy and Pacifica, two women he would always miss when he left his home away from home, Gravity Falls.

But this was business. There was a mystery to solve, and he would be damned if he let anything take his focus off of it.

When they touched down on the Nome Airport, both twins rushed straight for the terminal. It went without saying that this was much colder than Boston.

"Why didn't we change before we left?" Mabel asked.

"We were just too comfortable," Dipper said.

Who was there to greet them but Wendy and Pacifica, sitting on a bench near the sliding glass door.

"There they are!" Wendy said, leaping up. Pacifica gradually got up from the bench, still feeling a bit nervous and mildly cold. She was certainly wearing a few more layers than Wendy, who was a lot more used to the elements.

"Wendy!" Mabel shouted, coming through the door. Wendy threw her arms around both of the twin's necks.

"How the hell are you two?" Wendy said, smirking.

"We survived the flight," Dipper said, "We should rush and change somewhere. It's freezing."

"This is colder than northern Oregon," Wendy said, "I can just imagine how it must feel coming from Boston. But of course it gets pretty cold there, too. Don't know. Never been."

"I trust the flight was pleasant?" Pacifica said, gently hugging Mabel.

"Oh yes," Mabel said, "And you're right, flying first class priority was worth it. I could've just melted into those chairs." Mabel swooned thinking about how relaxed she was, at least before the latter half of her dream.

"Yeah," Dipper said awkwardly, still holding the sides of his arms, "it was pretty great after we finally boarded. It was a nice relief getting out of the sweaty, angry crowd."

"Boston's airport was hell as usual?" Pacifica asked.

"Just another horrific monster for the Mystery Twins to overcome," Dipper said, "Nothing we couldn't survive." Pacifica giggled at this. The two of them looked at each other, both feeling slightly nervous but still extraordinarily glad to see each other again. She still felt butterflies within her even after seeing him so many times over the years. He was beginning to feel them as well.

"Dipper..." Pacifica began, "There's something I need to tell you."

"Actually I have something as well," Dipper said, still very awkward.

There was a long pause between them that made Mabel and Wendy equal parts uncomfortable and eager with anticipation.

Pacifica broke the silence.

"I wanted to give you more recent information on your gruncles' research facility," Pacifica said, pulling the file from her handbag and handing it to him, "I kinda thought you might like to read it before we flew there tomorrow."

"Thanks," Dipper said, taking it from her, "I'll look at it before bed tonight." Mabel and Wendy both groaned internally, but Wendy vocalized it a bit more under her breath. Mabel was still outlandishly cold and decided to change. She began heading towards the restroom, but not before messing with Pacifica as she enjoyed doing on occasion. She knew what would make her brother warmer.

"I'm heading off to change," Mabel abruptly said and, while heading off, whammed her butt into Pacifica's back, causing her to fall forward into Dipper's arms. Both Dipper and Pacifica yelped at the surprise and blushed once they realized where they were. She was near the man she liked and was embarrassed that she had fallen here, but at the same time, she didn't want to move. Neither did Dipper; it had been too long since he had held a woman in his arms, and because it was one of his childhood friends, it was equal parts awkward and wonderful.

But the two moved apart, as they realized this wasn't appropriate.

"Damn it, Mabel," Pacifica said under her breath, "Watch where you're going." Dipper scratched the back of his head, looking off in another direction, out the now foggy window from the oncoming snow, just anywhere else.

"We should get going soon," Dipper said, "I'm starting to freeze."

"Hey," Wendy interrupted, "I know something that will keep us all warm. I have a six pack of imperial stout back at the hotel; thought we could all enjoy that before leaving for tomorrow."

"Yum," Pacifica said, "Isn't that the kind with chocolate in it?"

"Never had it," Dipper said.

"Oh just you wait," Wendy said.

After the twins dressed in a few more layers, they walked outside and found the group's ride waiting for them. There was a guy wearing a white ball cap and sunglasses at the driver side door.

"Guys, this is Paul Kopanuk," Pacifica said, "He works at our hotel but has graciously agreed to help drive us around town and get us safely to the island."

"Nice meeting you all," Paul said, shaking everyone's hands. His radio went off, and he responded to it with something in Yupik before turning back to the group. "Your Northwest friend here is probably one of the most generous women I've met. For what she's paying, I'm glad to take part of my weekend for this."

"McGucket Industries is more than happy to accommodate you," Pacifica said, smiling. She was trying to be more generous, so long as it didn't destroy Fiddleford's business budget. Having departed from her parents, she didn't quite have the budget she previously did, but it was significant enough for her to go to school, the Chrysler she loved driving so much, and meals for the week.

The group got in the car and began their trip to the hotel. The group watched the houses go by through the snow, Halloween decorations hanging here and there from various shop's doorways. Dipper looked through the files in the folder, which included various images of giant artifacts the research team and pulled from the waters.

"To give you guys some background," Pacifica said, "The reason I'm wanting to investigate this isn't just the worker's story. Stan and Ford passed the reigns to the now head researcher, Indrid Dyson."

"Why would anyone name their kid Indrid?" Mabel asked. Dipper heard this name and immediately thought of the Mothman.

"Yeah, it's kinda a weird name," Pacifica continued, "But he had an extensive background in both anthropology and psychology, so Ford was particularly impressed with him. Anyways, with the various artifacts they uncovered from the ocean, there were more odd incidents. Workers began reporting migraines, bad dreams, and delusions. Mr Dyson hired a hand-picked group of people who have apparently had a history with psychic phenomena and possible psychic abilities. After their first day at the facility, however, no one had seen or heard from his team again, not even their families. There is a forensic team headed to the island right now who are claiming to be animal control to see if they can find the large amphibian described in the worker's report."

"So that's what we're investigating," Wendy said.

"Wow," Dipper said, even more intrigued, "So this is bigger than just some fish man running around in the basement."

"Isn't investigating a missing person's case a little over our heads?" Mabel asked.

"I asked you here because you three are the people I trust the most in the world," Pacifica said, "For as long as I've known you, you've been solving mysteries and hunting monsters. I know these officials are supposed to be 'experts,' but I've got to be honest, when it comes to these matters, there's no one I would like more on the case than you three."

"Aww," Mabel said, "That's sweet of you to say. I just hope we won't get in the officers' way."

"We'll find them," Dipper said, "Whatever this Dyson guy is doing, we'll find out and put a stop to it."

"For now, I think we need to rest," Wendy said, "We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

The group finally made it to the inn. Pacifica spared no expense in renting an executive suites for all of them. After settling in, the group made their way around the town. Mabel made friends with some local fishermen (one of which was a fairly cute Inuit guy), Wendy found an amazing hunting shop, and Dipper stopped in a new bookstore while Pacifica looked at the local restaurant guide. Ultimately, she went with the bar and grill Paul recommended.

The general rule for picking restaurants is to listen to the locals.

The group enjoyed their one last good night on the main land and headed back to the inn. Pacifica walked ahead of the group upstairs, while the rest staggered into the lobby.

"Ugh," Mabel said, "remind me next time that sushi fills you up fast."

"I have no complaints," Dipper said, "Can't go wrong with surf and turf."

"The burger I had was pretty on point," Wendy swooned, "Been awhile since I had one with steak sauce and pepper jack." Dipper looked around.

"Where's Pacifica?" he asked.

"She said she had to do a few things," Mabel said, winking to Wendy, "She wants us to meet her up there."

Pacifica was upstairs in the bedroom, trying to find the perfect outfit for the evening. She wanted something comfortable yet also eye-catching, something she knew Dipper would like. It was a habit she did not need to follow but did nevertheless, always trying to dress to impress. She looked at herself in the mirror after finding the perfect outfit and noticed every blemish on her face. Was she really that pretty? Everyone told her she was, but she wasn't sure if she believed it.

She could hear them right outside. Wendy was getting the stout from the fridge, and Mabel was suggesting they play Apples to Apples. It was now or never.

No, she thought to herself, I am who I am. Dipper will need to accept who I am no matter what I look like.

The door opened, and Pacifica stepped out. Dipper's eyes went wide as she emerged; he did like how much that outfit showed off her legs and, in the back of his mind, was very grateful for how well the heater worked in the hotel.

"Wow," Mabel said, "you look great, girl."

"Wanted something a little more comfortable," Pacifica said.

"Well, we saved a spot for you," Wendy said, "Grab a beer and pick up some cards." Okay, Pacifica thought, time to relax.

The night waned, and the group became more relaxed. They began telling stories about school and work.

"...So then my professor said, 'Please go pee,' when she meant something else," Mabel said. And the group laughed hysterically at this. It wasn't that funny, but everything was amplified for them at this hour. "I think that was a big Freudian slip, because we saw her race to the bathroom right after class." This made the group laugh even harder, so much so that Pacifica fell over into Dipper's lap. The two looked at each other as their laugh subsided, and they noticed how beautiful each other's eyes looked.

"Is it getting cold in here, or is it just me?" Wendy asked. Everyone else noticed it as well.

"Dang, you're right," Mabel said, "All of a sudden, Burr!"

"I feel alright," Dipper said.

"Of course you do," Wendy said, "you've got a hot girl in your lap and a few more stouts than we've had." Pacifica's phone rang.

"Hello?" She said after retrieving it from her skirt pocket. She got up and paced around the room. Her body language showed how cold she was, holding her elbows close to her side. "Well, if you can get it fixed as soon as possible, we'd appreciate it. Thanks, bye." She growled in frustration. "That was Paul. Apparently the heater is broke. They're going to fix it as soon as they can." She walked off into the bedroom, grabbed the blankets off the bed, and wrapped herself in them.

"Well, I need to hit the sack, anyway," Wendy said, "We've got a big day tomorrow."

"Yeah," Mabel said, yawning and winking over to Pacifica, "The earlier I get to bed, the earlier you and Dipper-er, I mean, the earlier I see what morning in this town is like."

"Good night, girls," Pacifica said, "Dipper, get in here!"

"You heard the woman," Mabel said, kicking his butt into the bedroom and shutting it behind him.

"Ow," Dipper said, "Was that really necessary?"

"You'll thank me later," Mabel screamed from behind the door.

"Get over here, dummy," Pacifica snapped, "Come cuddle with me. I'm freezing." He didn't resist this. She wrapped him up in the blanket next to her. "That's better." There was a moment of silence between them before she broke it again. "There's been something I've been meaning to tell you for awhile."

"Same here actually," Dipper said, looking at the top of her blonde head, arms wrapped around her.

"I wanted to say that..." Pacifica stammered.

"I..." They said simultaneously, and continued to do it, "...but you...why don't you..." They both giggled.

"You go first," Dipper said.

"I'm throwing myself out there and am prepared to sound like an idiot," Pacifica began, looking up at him, "But I love you, Dipper Pines. I have for a long while. You're smart, witty, funny, tenacious, and kind, all things I would want in someone. I would love nothing more than for you to be a part of my life and that you'd be a part of mine." There was a moment's pause. Dipper didn't know what to say after that. How should he respond? Pacifica continued but snuggled closer to him nevertheless. "I probably should stupid to you, don't I?"

"No, of course not," Dipper said, holding her tighter, "In fact, I wanted to say something similar to you. I'm the idiot for not seeing how much you liked me all this time. I should have known after the night at your parents' mansion."

"It only grew from there," Pacifica said.

"And I...it's a little too early for me to say it yet, but..." Dipper stuttered. Pacifica held her fingers to his lips.

"Shh," Pacifica said, "Say it when you're ready, dipstick. Right now, I...I want..." Dipper leaned in and kissed her passionately, cutting her off. She threw her arms around his neck and fully embraced his him. The two continued to kiss and hold each other close, falling down on the bed on which they were seated. Their kissing continued, as their hands began exploring each other. As his hand reached the edge of her skirt, she pushed him away.

"Wait!" she yelped.

"What's wrong?" Dipper asked, genuinely concerned. Did he do something wrong? Was it too soon for this?

"Nothing's wrong," Pacifica said, looking down and blushing, "I've wanted this for so long. It's just that I've never..."

"You mean..."

"I had a few boyfriends in high school, okay?" Pacifica said, "But we never did very much and they all only lasted a week. I think they were just interested in me for my status and because I was rich and popular...And they weren't you. Maybe it was crazy for me to hold out hope that we'd be together one day, but I did...and now that we're finally here, I'm just nervous..." Dipper smiled warmly at her. He held her hand gently and caressed it with his thumb.

"If you're not ready, or if we're moving too fast, we can wait on this," Dipper said in an understanding tone.

"No!" Pacifica shouted, "I want this now! I've waited too long for this moment!" She yanked Dipper close to her again, kissed him harder than before, and guided his hand back to where it was and then a little bit further until Dipper could feel something soft and silky on his fingertips.

The heat of passion, the swirls of pain and pleasure, the soft moaning and heavy breathing, the energy of the universe spinning through them as their souls connected, and finally the little deaths: the two felt all of these things. Through the cold night, their warmth for each other engulfed them, now lost in infinity. And all the other cliches that you could find in a harlequin novel, but of course those would probably have more detail.

At length, the two lay next to each other, warm and content. He held her in one arm, while she lay her head on his chest. He looked down at her and could see the top of her blonde head again, while she closed her eyes in bliss.

"Maybe it's not too late to get a refund on the room you rented for me?" Dipper said.

"I doubt that'll be a problem," Pacifica said, laughing, "Besides, I'm not worried about it right now."

"You're right," Dipper agreed, "Let's just enjoy this for now."

"Time to sleep, dork," Pacifica said, lifting her head up and kissing him again, "Goodnight...Love you..." Before long, she was asleep.

Dipper leaned over, kissed her hair, and whispered, "I love you, too."

It was a few hours later, and Dipper woke up from another hideous nightmare. He looked down and found Pacifica next to him, alive, which gave him a hint of relief. He walked over to the nightstand, grabbed the file, and sat in a chair next to the window, using the moonlight to see.

Among the images was a full picture of a gargantuan artifact the research team had unearthed from the sea walls. It looked like two pointed spires, spiraling around with one another and etched with a writing of some unknown language. The more Dipper looked at the artifact, the more his head hurt. He immediately shut the file and looked out the window for some relief.

Outside the window, the clouds had briefly dissipated. Dipper could see the lurid stars, the people-less streets, and a few lit windows from the nearby houses. He looked closer in the sky, and behold, the aurora borealis flashed across the sky before him. The green lights danced and swirled across the starry sky with an almost beckoning air. "Dipper," the wind seemed to call out, but Dipper did not want to heed it. He looked beyond the buildings towards the ocean and saw what he thought was a humanoid figure standing near the water, seemingly staring up at him.

Could this have been a wendigo or was it something even worse? Either way, it's gaze was locked on him and would not move.

"Please come back to bed," Pacifica moaned out to Dipper, "I'm cold without you." He looked down at her when she had said this and then looked out the window again. The figure was gone.

Whatever he was about to face tomorrow, he would not let it get to him or his friends. No matter what, he would be the one to protect them. This was not to say that he thought they were incapable of taking care of themselves, but his instincts were always to protect those who were important to him.

He went back to bed, wrapped the sheets and Pacifica's arms around him, and fell asleep once more.


	4. Boat Ride to the Abandoned Facility

**Better late than never. After my last update, I said I'd be writing every Saturday now, as that's the best time I have reserved for it. (I'll try and get 2,000 words finished each session unless I feel it's a good stopping point) Hopefully, I can come up with some clever things that are in Dipper's new journals; surely he's been writing more on his numerous trips to Gravity Falls each summer and found new monsters and things to study both in the Falls and in Arkham.**

 **Hope you like and that you're intrigued for more.**

"Every incident of that four-and-a-half-hour flight is burned into my recollection because of its crucial position in my life. It marked my loss...of all that peace and balance which the normal mind possesses through its accustomed conception of external nature and nature's laws." – H. P. Lovecraft, "At the Mountains of Madness"

Dipper half opened his eyes for a soft gray light to greet him streaming in from a tall window near the unfamiliar bed in which he lay. He heard some rustling from the sheets and then of some clothes, as though someone were getting undressed in the shadows across from him. He then felt something soft and silky land on his chest and heard a familiar voice giggle (Pacifica's?) along with a door across the room shut and some running water that he recognized as a shower run.

He then closed his eyes and fell back to sleep.

His eyes shot back open to what he realized was the bed in which he slept last night, completely alone. The light was now brighter, and he realized he had slept later than he intended. The longer he slept, the more time he took away from getting a headway on the job he came here to do. He may have been in his early twenties, and this was his fall break, but this was fun for him. He found what excited him, something in which he took joy. Pacifica asked him, Mabel, and Wendy out here for a reason, and by God, he was going to put his all into it.

He was quick to sit up but felt the object that was on his chest roll onto his lap. He picked it up and immediately noticed it was a wad of violet satin. It wasn't hard to recognize what they were; Pacifica had obviously wanted him to keep them, especially since their night was so wonderful. He picked them up to examine them. The woman spared no expense when it came to things she wanted. He stuffed them into his pocket, the very symbol of her caring and affection towards him. Who knows? They could continue to bring him good luck throughout the trip.

Dipper got up, dressed (completely ignoring a shower), and grabbed the file he examined last night. The picture of the spiraling monolith was still out in view, and it took Dipper a moment before he shook his head, shut the folder, and tucked it under his arm. He thought he heard the phrase, "Ia Dagon" run through his mind; where could that random thought have come from?

He walked from the bedroom into the main room and found on the table a plate, along with an upright note that read "Dipper" on the front with a heart where the dot in the letter I would be. The plate was fully covered in fluffy scrambled eggs with strips of bacon on top made to look like a smiley face.

When he opened the note, he read this:

"Good morning, my sleepy nerd. I thought I'd let you rest while I gave the cooking staff some time off to make you and the girls some bacon and eggs. Sorry if they're a little burnt; I'm obviously not good at cooking. If you want to review the files a little more, we have until 10:00 AM before we have to leave for the facility. It is actually not on the island itself but rather in the middle of the ocean, about 15 miles from the Kookoolik cape. Take as much time as you need. Love, Paz."

Dipper opened the files again while eating his bacon and found the names and records of the people missing. There was Ellie Vance, a New England resident who had possibly called showers of stones to fall on her house and could apparently see and feel ghostly presences, Cole Tillinghast, the great great grandson of scientist Crawford Tillinghast and manipulator of telekinesis, Rowena Waite, whose dreams would allow her to see through another person's eyes and were proven to be real time accurate of the subjects about which she would dream, Bob Pilgrim, who claimed that he would on occasion see the past and future simultaneously, and Bill Wilson, who was originally diagnosed as having dissociative identity disorder before they discovered that he was channeling his deceased ancestors.

He also looked at the file on Indred, the newly appointed head of the facility and the person who had lead these people to it, and it was about what he had expected. He had studied anthropology for some time and already had an interest in many ancient religions. He continued to work with and participate in various cults around the world. Of course, because of his non-violent approaches and his reluctance to become an official member of any of these groups, this kept him from being discredited within the anthropological, historical, and scientific communities. Needless to say, there was something off about the man. He was wondering why his gruncle Ford would have hired him. Was he just that charismatic?

Upon looking at these, Dipper could not shake the feeling that something was watching him, whether from the window outside or somewhere within the room. He felt the feeling in his gut that he had awakened something; it was the same feeling he would get when he was a child and had done something wrong. He and his friends were kicking the hornet's nest, and this feeling was no illusion or paranoia. But, nonetheless, they had to find these people. If the investigators could not do their job and locate them, he and his friends would.

"Ugh," Wendy groaned, hanging up her cell phone in the dining area, "I can't get an answer."

"Still trying to call the facility?" Mabel asked, sketching an outline on her notepad of another sweater design with a goofy looking hippopotamus on it.

"Yeah, Paz said to call this Rebecca Jeffers person to let them know we were coming at this time. She's supposed to be available now."

"Did you try their cell?"

"I did," Wendy said, rolling her eyes, "But she's not answering that, either."

"Apparently, not even the main number is working," Pacifica said, bringing plates to the table for the three of them, "They are experiencing a bad storm in that area that's about to hit the mainland any time now. I tried emailing her earlier, but she didn't respond. To be honest, I wouldn't worry too much about it; the maintenance crew there is very good at speedy repairs, and if anything is really wrong, they have an emergency message system they can send to the coast guard using backup power."

"Come what may, thanks for cooking us breakfast, Pacifica!" Mabel said, excitedly.

"I wanted to do something nice for everyone and kind of butted my way in with the chefs to make this for you all," Pacifica said. Wendy and Mabel looked down at the plates and saw the eggs were extremely burnt, as were the dark brown strips that had once been bacon.

"Thanks...Paz," Wendy said, nervously, "I'm sure they'll be great."

"Sure it will," Mabel said, who ravenously began scarfing it down. She didn't seem to mind at all that it was now overdone and the taste had long since left the bacon and eggs. But of course, this was the woman who had no problem eating week old tacos from Stanley's car.

Pacifica sat down with them, wincing as she did.

"I'll check with the coast guard after lunch," she said, "just to see if they've heard anything. That or I could have Paul do it. He's got a radio signal directly to them." There was that same agitation in her voice they had come to expect from her, the very anger they knew they would need to dissipate before she went off like a rocket.

"So..." Wendy began, stirring the eggs and trying to take her attention off of them, "Did everyone sleep well last night?"

"I did," Mabel said, putting her fork down, "But I think Pacifica slept even better." Pacifica looked up at her with wide eyes, blushing.

"Yeah, Paz," Wendy said in a chiding, playful tone, "Did everything go well last night?"

"Oh, you know..." Pacifica said, shyly while giving a small, embarrassed smirk, "It went..."

"Can't wait for Dipper to wake up to hear his side of it," Mabel said.

"...I think I wore him out," Pacifica finally said, "At least I left him some breakfast for whenever he woke up."

"I'm happy you finally built up the courage to tell him how you felt," Wendy said.

"Everything kind of snowballed after that," Pacifica continued, "One thing led to another, and you know how this sentence ends...Do you think we were too quick to move directly into, well, what happened last night?"

"I don't think there's any harm in following your natural urges," Wendy said, "You're a grown woman with needs, dammit. While, yeah, by a general rule, it's not a good idea to jump straight into the sack with anyone, every relationship is different. There's been a tension that's been building inside you two for years. Don't be ashamed of it. Trust your instincts and do what you feel is right. Who cares what anyone else thinks?"

"Yeah, get it, girl!" Mabel yelped after finishing her eggs.

"Thanks, you two," Pacifica said, blushing even further. She perked up as she saw who came in the room; Dipper had finally come to greet them.

"Dipper, you're awake!" Pacifica cried and rushed over to throw her arms around his neck.

"Good morning," he replied, and the two kissed each other, as if it were the most natural thing in the world for them. "Thanks for the breakfast; don't worry, it wasn't that burnt." She laughed and lightly punched his gut.

"You flatter me," she said, "Hey, at least I didn't go the cheap route and order it from Taco Bell instead."

"Ugh," Dipper groaned, "Don't mention that place. I've had some bad experiences eating there."

Across the room, they heard clapping from Wendy and Mabel. The other patrons in the dining hall seemed annoyed but none did anything about it.

"Finally," Wendy said, "Took you long enough."

"Tell me about it," Mabel responded, the grin on her face clearly showing how inwardly ecstatic she was "I've been shipping her and my brother for years."

"Better late than never," Pacifica said, hugging Dipper tighter. Then, she suddenly let go. "I think Paul should be here soon. Dipper, why don't you go out and look for him? Candy's going to call him on how to operate the new boat. He could use a hand."

"Alright, alright," Dipper said, giving her a peck on the lips again before walking towards the front door. "I'll see you all later." He heard the women laughing together as he proceeded out into the snowy street. The gray sky blocked all but small traces of sunbeams here and there. Dipper sat on a nearby bench and began looking at the case files again before realizing he had already reviewed them five times in the past hour. He thought about this place, about its history and about the remoteness. It was very close to the time of the infamous alien abduction for which this place was known. How many residents would be willing to talk about it? Soon, his existential thoughts crept back into his mind. What kind of other life existed on this plane? What did that mean for the greater scheme of the universe? He had dealt with so many different extra-planar creatures, other lifeforms within this realm hadn't crossed his mind in awhile. It made him think again of his time with Ford underneath the town of Gravity Falls, investigating the ancient spacecraft and the centuries-old alien mummies they had found. Of course, all of it was really just speculation and theory, but it was nonetheless interesting to him. He would probably rule it out, as the best investigators do, but the thought that this might have been a site for alien abductions over the course of four decades intrigued him.

There were things of this plane and things that were beyond it, and he wanted to know the mysteries of all of it. 

Just then, Paul pulled up in his Jeep. Dipper watched as the headlights turned off and the door opened. Paul stepped out and shouted, "Hey, buddy."

"Hi, Paul," Dipper said walking toward him, "Ready for my gruncle's lightspeed boats?"

"Oh, man, it sounds cooler and cooler the more I hear about it," Paul said, "But I gotta tell you, I'm not looking forward to this trip. Have you heard about what's been happening?"

"I haven't actually," Dipper said, slightly nervous but trying not to show it. Paul raised an eyebrow and got really silent for a moment.

"No one's been able to contact your gruncles' facility for the past several hours." There was a buzz from the Jeep's radio. Paul answered it with something again in Yupik, even laughing occasionally as the voice on the other end fed him whatever news he needed.

"That doesn't sound good," Dipper said.

"We've already got a coast guard team heading there now," Paul said, "I'm hoping it's just a power outage, but they're going to let me know if it's a bigger deal."

"If there's no word yet, then we've got no time to waste," Dipper said, "We've got to head there now and find out what's going on. Whatever we're investigating over there, it sounds like it could be escalating."

"Hey, I'm concerned, too, bud," Paul said, "But it could be something minor. Let's not worry until there's something to worry about, eh?"

"Still, I'd like to get there as soon as we can," Dipper said, "I won't feel right until I know for myself, and knowing Paz, she won't feel right about it either."

"No problem," Paul said, "Tablet's in the Jeep if you want to call your friend now."

Dipper climbed into the Jeep and fired up a Skype session while Paul lit up a cigar outside. (He wasn't a fan of vaping and normal cigarettes weren't his thing) Dipper made the call, and sure enough, Candy answered.

"Hello Dipper," Candy said, smiling while putting down and turning off some sort of noisy electrical apparatus, "It's been too long."

"Hey Candy," Dipper said, "It has. Wish you could have joined us up here."

"We would have, but we're nearly on a breakthrough here with one of our new designs," she replied. After saying this, he saw Grenda carrying something large to the staging area in the background. The weight of the thing took her, and she fell over and dropped it.

"I'M OKAY!" he heard her shout.

"What are you creating now?" Dipper asked.

"We've almost finished our new design for the transporter," Candy replied, "The other base for it is in Austria at Marius' castle."

"Ha, where else would it be?" Dipper laughed.

"So," Candy began coyly, "Did Pacifica finally tell you what she needed to?"

"Actually yes," Dipper said, "We had a good night together."

"Finally," Candy said, rolling her eyes, "It was almost painful watching her bottle it up like that."

"Yes, and I'm glad she finally did," Dipper said, "And it was just recently that I realized that I really liked her, too. But either way, I was going to ask you about the speedboat."

"Yes of course," Candy said, bringing up her tablet and stylus, "I've made some improvements on the Stan-O-War 5. I've allowed it to break faster without the engine or the hull burning up. You can also add in the necessary coordinates that you will need, latitude and longitude. Plus, we added quite a bit of shock resistance to it. It can go from zero to 120 mph in less than a second, and you'll barely even feel it. Not to mention, sea-sickness will be a thing of the past. I'll text you the manual on how it operates."

"Sounds pretty awesome," Dipper said, "Would love to talk more, but we have to get going. There could be an emergency."

"Best of luck out there," Candy said. With that, there was a bright flash and some sort of loud electrical sound. Candy turned around and saw that Grenda was gone. Candy looked down at her tablet half a minute later and said, "Ah, just got a message from Grenda."

"Did it work?" Dipper asked.

"Sort of," Candy responded, "She said she flew right off the base, through the window, and landed in the bushes of his garden."

"That's still amazing that the transporter worked," Dipper said, "Maybe I could test it next time."

"Yes, more guinea pigs are welcome," she replied. The two said their goodbyes as Dipper disconnected the call. He looked over and saw that Paul was getting into the Jeep as the women were exiting the hotel and heading towards the vehicle, dressed as warmly as possible. The sun may have appeared, but it was still extraordinarily cold for them.

"How's Candy," Mabel asked after opening the door.

"Doing well, working on a new invention," Dipper said.

"Did she give you any direction on the new boat?" Pacifica asked, climbing into the back seat.

"She texted me the manual," Dipper said, "Shouldn't be too hard to follow."

The group had made their way to the docks to find the new Stan-O-War waiting for them. It looked even more advanced than the last model they had seen on their last visit to Gravity Falls, including more armored plating, a glowing rear engine (which made Dipper wonder what powered it and if it was safe), and a small effigy of Candy and Grenda painted on the side of it, almost like a painter's signature.

The group made their way to the wheelhouse, where they strapped themselves in for what they thought might be a wild ride given the last speedboat Ford had used.

"This shouldn't be as crazy as the last one," Dipper said, "They installed a lot of shock absorption into this one,"

"Aww, man," Wendy said, "I was hoping for something rough and crazy this morning."

"I'm okay with it," Pacifica said, "The last time I tried one of your gruncle's boats, I thought the skin was going to fly off my face."

As soon as everyone was situated, Paul put in the coordinates and turned the key to start the engine. Nothing happened.

"Okay," he said, "What's the holdup?"

"Not sure," Dipper said, unbuckling and looking at the manual on his phone, "lets see." He crouched under the control console and removed the fuse panel. Everything was in place. He then opened the next panel to check the electrical input. The cable going from the ignition to the engine was not connected. "Ah here it is." And upon plugging it in, the boat kicked into it's hyperdrive gear and darted out of the port towards the facility. Dipper went flying over his seat, and his chest landed right into Pacifica's face as the rest of them held their seats tightly.

Finally, after about two minutes, Paul turned on the breaks, as they neared their destination. Dipper went flying off of Pacifica's face and hit the back of his seat, landing at her feet.

"Woohoo!" Wendy shouted, "That was awesome. Much more exciting than I thought."

"You alright there, bro?" Mabel asked.

"Yes, nothing broken, right?" Pacifica asked, unbuckling herself and helping him to his feet.

"Yeah, I'm good," he responded.

"Sorry, dude," Paul said, "I probably should have turned the ignition off before you plugged that in."

"No worries," Dipper said, "I guess the new shock absorption really isn't working as well as we thought."

The group proceeded out to the deck and looked out across the sea. There was the research facility looming in the distance, pillars holding it above the waves like an oil refinery. Their hearts sank, however, at what they saw next.

There was a piece of the building clearly missing, as if blown off by some explosion.

"Oh God," Pacifica muttered. Any peace of mind or rationality left her in that moment. What could have happened here? Was the crew still alive? And what kind of monster could have done this? Her gut sank at all the speculation, and as she turned around her, she saw that her friends must have had similar thoughts by the distraught looks on their faces.

"Now there's reason to worry," Paul said to himself.

As the group drew nearer to the structure, they noticed two empty coast guard boats at the dock, simply floating lifelessly like empty turtle shells. They stopped their boat, and Paul hopped onto one of the coast guard boats. The radio as still emitting a low static with someone on the other end trying to reach the boat's original crew. Paul responded again in Yupik which Dipper couldn't understand, but he could tell he was letting them know who and where they were. Dipper and his friends eventually followed, and Paul turned to them to give them an update.

"The dispatched crew have disappeared apparently," Paul said, "They can't reach them through any form of radio or cellular communication."

"Then there's no time to waste," Dipper said, his hand in the side of his jacket pocket, rubbing the side of journal number 5 as if ready to draw it as one would a weapon, "we have to get in there, get those people out of whatever this is, and get to the bottom of what's going on."

"Don't you think it's safer to wait for backup?" Paul said, "They said they may have another dispatch on their way."

"I don't know, Dipper," Mabel said, "I think we may be a little over our heads on this one." She drew out the word little, trying to show the irony of her words with the gravity of the situation.

"Whose to say the backup won't be out of their league with this, too?" Wendy said, "I'm with Dipper on this one. We've encountered hundreds of paranormal creatures in our time in Gravity Falls. Who's better equipped than us?" With that, she pulled a rune-engraved ax out of her pack, and Mabel could swear she saw it glow somehow. "Lets kick some more monster ass, just like the old days."

"She's right," Pacifica said, although there was clearly some nervousness in her voice, "This is our company's facility, and I have a responsibility to it and the workers inside. Okay, this place holds a significant dollar amount, and I'd hate to see it destroyed, but I also don't want to see anyone hurt because we did nothing. We need to be sure everyone in there is safe." There was a pause in the air; even after years, it still amazed them, herself included, how altruistic Pacifica had grown. She still had a temper and was always on edge; years of trying to build, exert, and flaunt her status did this. But she wanted to be a better person, and her friends had given her the guidance she needed to know there was a better path.

"You guys are right," Mabel said, smiling with resolve, "We've faced far worse together. Time to find out what's inside."

"Go on ahead, dudes," Paul said, "Someone has to stay here and monitor the radio."

They agreed and proceeded up the long titanium ladder to the facility door. Upon reaching the entryway, their anxiety only increased as they saw what looked like gargantuan claw marks across the door. Wendy readied her ax and took point. She pushed the door open, a loud groan from the metal echoing through the entrance hall. The group proceeded into the darkness, not knowing what could possibly await them within but prepared to solve the mystery of what happened here.


	5. Deep Ones in the Hall

**Yay! Another one done. Now on to the next chapter. There's a song on the Lovecraft parody play "Shoggoth on a Roof" called "If I Were a Deep One." Listen to it when you can. So, what else can I say on here?... Just finished Doom; if you haven't played it, it's a bloody, gory delight. That's about all that's new for me. Going to try and get another chapter finished as soon as I can. Thank you all so much for staying patient and reading. Each fave and comment is always a delight to see when I do see them.**

Moving in through the front door, the group found themselves in a small foyer with a receptionist desk and a set of double doors. There was an ever present smell of brine mixed with days old dead fish filling the air. The lights were off, and the only way the group could see was from the light outside as the door was open. Dipper pulled out a flashlight to have a look around the room. The foyer doors didn't look damaged, but there was a torn grate that looked like it had been ripped off of something else laying on the floor. The group looked up to see it had come from an air vent above them.

"I'm going to guess whatever new guest they had crawled up through there," Dipper said.

Wendy pulled at the foyer doors and found they were locked.

"Ugh," Wendy groaned, "Why am I not surprised it wouldn't be that easy?" There were windows on each of the double doors, and she could see some flickering lights briefly illuminating the hallway beyond

"Hang on guys," Mabel said, pulling out her grappling hook and aiming it at the air vent ledge, "I got this."

"Is that really necessary?" Dipper asked, "We could just lift you up there."

"Oh, Dipper," Mabel said sweetly, "you know better than to question the awesomeness of the grappling hook." She hadn't used it in years and finally saw her chance. She had brought it on the plane in her checked bag and by God, she was going to put it to good use.

"Actually," Pacifica said as Mabel launched the hook into the ceiling, causing some bits of dry wall to fall on her head, "I've got this." She walked over to the security panel to the right of the door, which still had a small blinking red light. She then pulled out her phone and looked up the passcode. She began entering the numbers, the light in the LED display turning on to show her what she was typing, causing her to blink as her eyes still hadn't adjusted to the low light. There was a beep and a click sound, and Wendy was then able to open the door.

"The security system still has power?" Dipper asked rhetorically.

"Backup power," Pacifica said, "I had a bad experience at another one of McGucket's facilities where they lost power, and I got stuck in the elevator for a couple hours until security called me and gave me the override code to get out of the top of the elevators. They couldn't even send a servant...I mean rescue team to come in and get me; I had to climb out of the top of the elevator and out one of the doors. They have backup power for all their security systems but not for basic things like elevators. It's...lame."

"Well, no one can say they're not secure," Wendy replied. The group continued through the door, but Dipper looked back and saw Mabel reeling the hook back into the gun.

"You coming?" Dipper asked.

"Hang on," Mabel said, aiming again at the ceiling, "I'm determined to get this down. It's a quest now." As Dipper turned around to walk through the open door, he heard the clang of his sister's hook hitting its designated target. "I did it," he heard her shout, just as the next sound that followed was the draw of the rope and a loud clang with her saying, "OW...I'm okay."

Dipper, Wendy, and Pacifica proceeded through the office hallways, Mabel following closely behind them through the air vents. Their heads peered in from door to door, searching for any signs of life but of course to no avail. There were PCs that were still open, documents that were unfinished, food that was half eaten. It was the standard post apocalypse type of scenario one would have seen through countless zombie movies. Everything was left in a state of disarray while still being so unnervingly quiet.

"I doubt we're going to find anyone," Wendy said, "But stay alert."

"This reminds me of a certain sci-fi movie from the 80's," Mabel said from the ceiling.

"Of course," Pacifica said, "because you felt the need to re-enact it. Either way, even if no one is here anymore, maybe we can find a clue about where they might have gone."

"Or what happened here," Dipper said, "Maybe we can find something about the missing psychics. I'm wondering how much this weird Indred guy had to do with it. A guy named after the Mothman, it's kind of hard for him to sound remotely trustworthy."

The group rounded the narrow corridor and at the end of the hall was the security office. It was oddly convenient that the door would be open, but there was an equal feeling of dread that they felt when they saw that the same claw marks that were on the front door would be here, this time having taken the door halfway off its hinges, what glass was in the door frame having shattered across the floor.

There were no security guards, but the fact that there was blood on the floor gave away what might have happened here. It did not help that there was a suffocating odor throughout the room, like the dumpster in the back of a seafood restaurant.

"Oh shit," Wendy said under her breath, ax at the ready. Pacifica became a little queasy and nervous as all her senses lit up.

"What's happening out there?" Mabel said, trying to peer out from a nearby grate.

"Stay sharp," Dipper said, putting his hand on Pacifica's shoulder to calm her down. He moved further into the security room and found that there was a keycard on the floor in the blood pool. He began to bend down.

"You're not picking that up, are you?" Pacifica asked, but she knew there was no stopping him.

"No time to be squeamish," Dipper replied, but there was some hesitation as he picked up the bloodied, yellow keycard from the floor. He picked it up with his fingernails and wiped it on the side of his pants before pocketing it, realizing then that he was not the Doom Marine and this was no video game. This was thoroughly disgusting.

"Okay, you picked up your gross security card," Pacifica said, "Can we go now?"

"Hold up," Wendy said, lowering her ax a bit and looking around, "we might be able to see where everyone is from here."

"There are a few monitors still on," Dipper said, moving over to the computer consoles.

"Okay guys, I'm done horsing around. I'm coming out," said Mabel, who then proceeded to kick open the grate in the ceiling. Pacifica looked her direction and still wondered why a grown woman would behave so childishly. Still, this was something she had come to expect from her and did her best to accept her just the same.

Dipper, Wendy, and Pacifica looked at the computer monitor while Mabel was leaping down to the floor. The camera was labeled "EXCAVATION ROOM" across the top of the screen. There was a large group of people, all gathered in a semi-circle around a group of stones. Above the stones hovered five figures, dressed in white robes. Dipper squinted and realized that it was the missing psychics, looking down at the multitudes gathered before them. It looked like they were saying something, but none of the group could read their lips. Pacifica looked across the sound board and found the microphone button. She hesitantly pressed it, and the voice of what Dipper thought might be Elle said, "The sacrifices for Father Dagon have arrived!"

The group then watched in horror as the faces of the five looked up at the camera. No, not at the camera...at them, peering at them through the screen.

The group staggered back in horror to try and collect what they just saw.

"What did I miss?" Mabel asked, joining the rest of the group. Unfortunately, she was the first to notice what was on the second monitor. It was a camera from down the corridor from which they arrived. There were what looked like monstrous, bipedal creatures that looked like a cross between a large fish or toad while still standing upright like humans; they were broad shouldered, bulky, and had large claws at the ends of their hands. There appeared to be about four or five of them, and they were headed around the corner their way. "Uuuuuh, I think all my sushi dinners are about to get their revenge..." Mabel said, stuttering and backing away from the monitor.

The group ran out into the hallway and saw the stocky creatures at the end. One leaped out in front of the others and roared loudly, echoing through the narrow hallway, froth flying from between its needle-like teeth. Wendy pushed everyone else aside, readied her ax, and prepared for the creature's inevitable leap forward. The alpha creature lumbered towards them similar to how a gorilla moves and swept with one massive claw at Wendy; she was already anticipating this and swept her ax at the creature's face. Upon contact, it let out a yelp before exploding into a ray of light. Her ax glowed that same weird glow from earlier as the Corduroy woman let out a sigh of relief.

The alpha fishman's eradication, however, was a signal for a general rush from the other monsters as they lumbered down the hallway towards the group. Wendy knew there would be too many of them for her to face. She scrambled back to her feet and ran back towards her group.

"Run!" she shouted, and her friends did just that. They rounded another hallway with no lights, save for one red light illuminating an elevator door. As they ran, they thought they saw mirrors along the hallway. For a brief moment, Dipper thought he could see the face of someone in one of them, someone whom he didn't recognize. As they neared the doorway, Dipper noticed there was a keycard reader to the left of the up and down arrow buttons. He quickly took the key from his pocket as the group slowed down at the steel doors.

"Hurry," Pacifica said.

"I'm trying," Dipper responded and swiped the keycard along the reader. The fishmen continued to gain on them before the doors began to open.

Suddenly, one of the creatures leapt forward and ended up grabbing Mabel by the ankle.

"Aaah, it's got me!" Mabel screamed involuntarily. It dragged her to the floor and tried to pull her back from the group into the darkness. She turned over and readied her grappling hook. "You're not taking me that easily, angler face!" She then fired her hook and hit the creature right between its soulless, pupil-less eyes. The creature let go of her and roared in pain. Mabel scrambled to her feet and tried to run back towards the group.

"Mabel!" Dipper called out in concern.

Just as Mabel was reaching out towards the group, two more of the fishmen reached out and grabbed her by the shoulders, knocking her again to the floor. Wendy jumped out again with her ax and attempted to slash at the creatures while Pacifica dragged Dipper into brightly lit elevator. One of the creatures knocked Wendy back into the elevator with them, causing the ax to fall at Pacifica's feet.

Another one of the monsters jumped up from above the struggling creatures and Mabel and leapt at the elevator door. It was trying to keep the doors from closing and had placed its claws on either side to push them open. Pacifica was fast to act since Wendy was stunned and couldn't defend the group. She grabbed the glowing ax in front of her. She was determined to show that she was as tough as Wendy and was about to demonstrate that right now.

"Eat this, tuna breath," Pacifica said and swept the ax at the creature, causing it to screech out, evaporate into an explosion of light, and the doors to close.

"Mabel!" Dipper yelled, scrambling to his feet, "Dammit, Mabel!" He pounded on the steel elevator doors as it lowered them down further into the complex. Both Wendy and Pacifica placed their hands on his shoulders, trying to console him. It wasn't working.

What could have possibly happened to Mabel? There was a feeling in both Wendy and Pacifica that their fellow girlfriend was still okay and would make it out of this; she had, of course, been through worse, but they were not about to try and explain that to Dipper, as he would definitely not be receptive to it at this time. All they knew, though, was that they were in too deep in this quest to back out now and that they had to keep pressing onward.


	6. Done with Mirrors

"Biggie Smalls...Biggie Smalls...Biggie Smalls..." – South Park

The elevator landed, and the doors slid open, making a grinding noise as they disappeared into the door frame. None of them could tell if they had gone up or down; Dipper couldn't remember if he had pressed the up or down arrow key after swiping the badge. It didn't really matter to him, as the main concern on his mind was Mabel. The creatures on the other floor had overwhelmed her. Could she even still be alive?

Pacifica pulled Dipper to his feet, while Wendy picked up the ax and took point in the new hallway, an eerie blue glow dimly lighting the area. Pacifica tried to pull Dipper further into the room, but he didn't seem to budge, as if his legs were completely locked up. He only stared blankly into the floor.

"Dipper...Dipper..." Pacifica yelled, moving in front of him and grabbing his shoulders, "Oh, screw it," she said, rolling her eyes. "MASON!" she then yelled, bringing Dipper out of his stupor, causing him to look up at her. Wendy looked back over at them as well, equally shocked.

"How did you…?" Dipper asked under his breath.

"Listen," Pacifica said, attempting to keep a calm voice over her own well of emotions, "we're going to find Mabel. I don't think those things were trying to outright kill her. I think they may want her, and us for that matter, for something else."

"I think they said something about a dragon," Wendy said from across the hall.

"They mentioned Dagon..." Dipper squeaked out, now even more nervous at the prospect of what could happen to her. It was as if another part of him was missing and in serious danger. New mental images flashed before him of various ancient tribal sacrifices. The name Dagon brought to mind two different deities from two very different cultures. At first he thought of the Semitic god of Mesopotamia, a more benevolent entity of grain and fertility. But the second thought brought him chills, remembering the various Cthulhu cults, particularly the sects from Massachusetts, who hailed Dagon as the great father of the deep ones who dwelt within the cyclopean city of Y'ha-nthlei. And given the fish men on the other level, the psychics had clearly meant the latter.

"Like, whatever," Pacifica said, her voice flustered, "It doesn't matter what the monster is this time. We're going to find her. And, hey, how many times have you and your sister been through these insane scrapes? Whatever insanity your sister gets into, she always gets herself out, right?"

Dipper nodded. She was starting to reach him.

"Exactly," Wendy interjected, "Mabel's just as clever and resourceful as you are, man. We'll find her; don't worry."

"But we need you with us," Pacifica said, and her voice lowered, "I need you...okay?"

"Okay," Dipper said, taking a deep breath. He then pulled out Journal 5 from his pack in case he needed to look up the weaknesses of any other oddities they may encounter or make some amendments to them. There was something comforting to him about holding it.

"I'm keeping my eye out for any more of those things," Wendy said, slowly making her way down the hall, looking from side to side, ax still at the ready. On either side of them were large windows revealing what looked like a dimly lit laboratory, the computer monitors being the only source of illumination. No one was inside. The walls eventually terminated into doorways leading to these labs before continuing on into a normal hallway with what Wendy could eventually make out to be doors on either side. Two double doors were at the end of the hallway, a white light showing through a narrow window in one of them. Wendy finally reached the end of the hall and attempted to open the doors. They were locked. "Of course," Wendy said, not in the least bit surprised. She looked over and saw another keycard reader. "Dipper, we're going to need that keycard again."

"Sure," Dipper said, moving down the hallway toward her, Pacifica staying in step with him. He looked through one of the windows to the lab and saw another mirror sitting on one of the desks; he saw himself and Pacifica pass by it but could have sworn he saw some other large dark shape move within it from right behind them. He turned around to see what was behind him. He found nothing.

"Dipper, what is it?" Pacifica asked.

"Nothing," he replied hesitantly.

They continued until they met Wendy at the end of the hallway. Dipper tried swiping the card, but it gave a small droning beep before flashing a red light.

"I don't think this keycard had access to this hall," Dipper said.

"Paz, don't you have your own for this place?" Wendy asked.

"They would have given one to me at the front desk," Pacifica said, "But that plan went out the window once disaster struck. Anyways, I've been here before, but the layout of this place seems very different than when I last visited. It's like some of the hallways just twisted and repositioned themselves, on that other level and down here. I don't even remember there being a lab here."

"Maybe they've made some developments since you left," Wendy said.

"Or maybe there's some other force twisting this place to its whim," Dipper said, "And we're caught in some sort of ethereal wormhole."

"Okay, my nerdy boy," Pacifica retorted, "now you're getting too weird."

"Either way, I think I've got my own key right here," Wendy said, gripping her ax tighter. She yelled and swung it at the door. She expected the wood to shatter to bits; what she got what felt like an onyx wall, the shockwave of the force sending her flying back to the floor. She may as well have tried to attack a mountain. There was a wonder among the group as to what could possibly give this door such reinforcement.

"Okay," Wendy continued, pulling herself to her feet, "Time to search for a keycard."

The three split up to search the area. Thankfully, the two labs closer to the elevator were open in which the two women were able to investigate. Dipper tried the doors to the cells which were likewise unlocked. As he entered each room, the lights would flicker on to reveal what looked like a small college dorm room. No one was inside. Upon reaching the fourth dorm room, he found what looked like two very distinct stains on the floor, one appearing to be days old vomit, the other being a dark red stain. Among the chunks within the vomit were what looked like teeth. It was as if a group with stomach flu and consumption had decided to sit around and have a sick contest on the floor. The rancid smell of bile filling the air did not help his fortitude. He nearly threw up himself but managed to keep his composure. He proceeded into the room and found what looked like an open diary on the desk at the wall adjacent to him, filled with various scribbles; sticky notes jutted from the pages.

He decided he would investigate this to see what sort of living conditions the occupant may have had and possibly get some insight about this place. As he reached for the diary, out of the corner of his eye, in the small vanity mirror above the desk, he saw what he clearly thought was a humanoid figure standing near the bed. He glanced up at the mirror to get a better look, but the figure was gone, having made some sort of motion as if it had run out of the door. He looked behind him and found nothing yet again. There was that gut wrenching feeling with which he was all too familiar on many of his adventures, the feeling of being watched and of some horrid thing ready to spring at him any time, be it some unspeakable horror, a bad grade on a test, or a rejection from a girl. He waited a moment, and the feeling passed without anything springing at him from the hall. He turned back and picked up the diary to begin reading.

While he was doing this, Wendy searched each of the tables and desks for what even looked remotely like a keycard, only to find broken lab equipment, scattered documents, and unlocked PCs. She neared one of them, hoping that maybe there might be some documentation on how to bypass the door. What she found however was a VLC Player window open with a video file ready to play. As she reached for it, she noticed a mirror on one of the walls next to the desk and thought she saw some indiscernible figure standing there in the shadows, watching her. She looked around her and found nothing there; looking back towards the mirror, she found that the figure was gone. A chill ran down her spine and through her arms as she thought of what it could be.

She had heard about what had happened at the Northwest Mansion and was reminded of the horrors her ancestor's spirit had wreaked upon her friends there. Could there be some other haunting like that here, along with the other monsters?

She looked back towards the computer, still not fully over the creepy feeling that had befallen her. The video would perhaps distract her from this feeling. The mouse moved and clicked play.

On the video were what she knew to be Indrid along with the five psychics, sitting in a semi-circle around him.

"We are here today," Indrid began speaking in the video, "to begin our first joining in our union with Dagon." The group shouted "Ia! Ia!" in response, and Indrid continued speaking. "The reign of man's time is limited. He is new to this world but still only an inferior insect of a race in comparison to the Old Ones, the true rulers of this realm. May you follow me, and together, we will transcend who we were born as and be drawn into the light of the other world, the world of sultan Azathoth!" The group shouted again "Ia! Ia!" Indrid continued again. "You have already shown how extraordinary you are, how you have gone beyond the limits of your fellow humans. Will you take the next step in joining me in bringing the Old Ones from their slumber back into this realm?" And they shouted once more "Ia, Dagon! Ia, Hydra!"

It seems that the psychics that Indrid had invited weren't being held against their will after all; they were just as crazy.

"Psychic Psychos," Wendy mused for a moment, "That almost sounds like the name of a metal band. I'll tell Robbie the next time I see him."

Back in the room with the diary, Dipper looked at the book further. The front page said "Eleanor." He began reading the entries to himself, none of which were dated:

"I remember when all of this started for me. I was ten years old and recovering from strep and a severe fever. During one of my nightly fits is when she came to me, the old woman who had died in our house before we owned it. She stood at the foot of my bed and watched me for some time, her face falling to pieces from the slow decay of death but still holding a warm smile. She disappeared forever, but I recovered from my illness the next morning. Since then, more entities have visited me. This is my new gift.

"I played Bloody Mary with some friends in Middle School. When we opened our eyes, the other girls screamed and laughed, expecting to see something. I was the only one who did. I told my friend, Theodora, the next day of what I saw; she looked at me strangely but told me she believed me nonetheless. Theo was always so supportive. Mary was there, in her royal garb all tattered and worn from being in the tomb, and her skin showing the damage the illness had placed on her in life. When I had opened my eyes that night after saying her name, she began at the back of the bathroom wall and was slowly inching her way towards me. I believe she wanted to come out of the mirror and say hello to us.

"I believe that I might have the ability to call these spirits. Through the years, I have been able to see new entities almost each night, each one appearing in the mirror to glace at me. And when I asked for someone specific, such as Julius Caesar, they will appear the next night. Could I possibly be bridging a gap here?

"A gentleman named Indrid contacted me the other day. Called for me at my work no less. Says he wanted me to join in his project. He had told his superiors that they wanted my talents in seeing how I reacted to some ancient artifacts they had brought out of the ocean, but his real reasoning, he told me later was to help me better my psychic talents, perhaps preventing another random stone incident as well.

The handwriting in the entries began to get sloppier as the entries progressed.

"They're depriving us of sleep. There is a gas that pours into our room each night that gives each of us insomnia. I know this because of this sickly smell that creeps into my nose before I go to sleep, a scent I encountered once when entering an old library where a bloody tragedy had taken place years ago. I asked my fellow guinea pigs how they had slept the next morning, and none of them had slept. It has been roughly four days, and none of us have had any sleep at all.

"Indrid promises us a new life if we follow his direction. The Old Ones will grant a boon to those who call them. Here, above an entry point that may tunnel its way underneath the United States and Canada to great Y'ha-nthlei, may we find favor with Dagon who dwells within the great oceans of the world.

In the last entry, the handwriting had gotten so sloppy that it was barely legible, but Dipper managed to read it.

"I hear her knocking on the wall. Loud bangings each night. Tapping on the glass in the mirror, waiting for her release. We can keep up our charade with these McGucket employees no longer. The time for our ascension is nigh. We have begun thinking in unison, as Indrid has shown us, but there will be a time soon that we will no longer need his assistance to the Path.

"I hear her now...Mary is coming. No longer knocking at the mirror, she is now knocking at the door. I will release her and in turn release us from our Earthly prisons! Wkh Rog Rqhv zhuh! Wkh Rog Rqhv duh! Dqg wkh Rog Rqhv vkdoo eh djdlq! Ylfwrub iru wkh wudqvfhqghg!"

Dipper shuddered at reading the last line. What had they been doing to these psychics; what had they become? He had seen this type of writing from the last entry previously while in Gravity Falls. It was a cypher coded message, but what did it say?

While Dipper had been reading the diary, Pacifica continued to search in the lab across from the one in which Wendy was searching. The room was a mess, which bothered her to no end. She looked over at one of the desks and found a family portrait of one of the scientists, all of whom looked very happy, posing on the side of a mountain in front of a waterfall. There was a tearing in her chest. What would she tell the families of her company's employees? She wasn't in charge of PR, but this was something that she was going to need to report back to the proper authorities and would be one of the worst reflections McGucket industries could possibly face. No matter how much compensation the employees' families could receive, it would never take away the pain of loss. She had come to learn that over the years as her sense of empathy grew and improved.

She looked at the photo a bit harder and thought that she saw someone else in the frame but couldn't make out who they were. She then realized it was actually in the reflection on the glass in the frame, the figure appearing just behind her, and whoever or whatever this was had been silently moving towards her. Before she could turn around, she felt something cold around her throat.

Suddenly, Dipper and Wendy heard a loud echoing shriek. They raced out to the main hall to see what had happened. When they discovered Pacifica had not joined them, they raced to the other lab. What they found was a decaying ghostly figure with ratty, matted dark red hair covering her face; it was holding Pacifica to the floor by the throat, the rest of its body terminating in the picture frame on the floor. Pacifica struggled to pry the creature's hands from her throat as she gasped for breath.

"Hey," Dipper said, "Get off of her right now."

"Eat magical ax, bitch!" Wendy shouted and swung her ax at the creature's head. It didn't make any cuts but it did knock the creature off of Pacifica and out of the picture frame. The ghost then let out an ear piercing screech that caused Dipper and Wendy to stagger and cover their ears. The thing continued to scream as it flew across the room and into another mirror on the wall where it disappeared and fell silent.

Dipper rushed over and began helping Pacifica to her feet, who went into a coughing fit and held her throat as she attempted to regain her composure. Her neck burned with a violent sting, and Dipper could see some dark markings on her neck in the shape of long bony fingers, the image of this only increasing his concern for her. It did not help with the fact that it looked as if all the color had gone out of her face; it could have just been the pale blue light, but she did not look as healthy as she did five minutes prior. Wendy stood at the ready, looking around the room for when the thing would return. Once Dipper was sure he could let go of Pacifica as she leaned against one of the lab tables, still sounding like she was about to cough up a lung, he consulted his journal for something that might help with the situation. He attempted to flip to the section about ghosts; he thought this thing might be a category four, given how it would move between flat surfaces and scream really loud. Did mirrors count as paintings? If only he had a silver one, their problems would be solved.

Wendy looked over at Dipper and could see from his saucer-like eyes that he had absolutely no idea how to handle this one.

"Hey, don't worry, man," she said, "I think I got this one, too." She held her ax higher, and Dipper could see the blade glow again. "I vaporized some disgusting slimer ghost in my dad's old childhood cabin with this thing."

"Where did you get that thing anyway?" Dipper asked.

"From...me..." Pacifica managed to gasp out through her coughs.

"She said she picked it up out of the floor after the night she lifted the mansion's curse," Wendy said, "Since it had my family's name engraved on the handle, she thought I should have it."

"Then my theory about the ghost was correct," Dipper said.

The three of them then went back into alert mode, albeit with Pacifica still coughing her lungs out, as they saw on the far wall, from another mirror, the entity had reappeared. Her matted hair oozed from the glass, and rail thin frame eventually emerged, causing her to fall out of the mirror and out of site with a sickening wet thump on the floor. Dipper couldn't help but think of a particular Japanese horror film. He noticed Pacifica was reaching for something in her jacket as she recovered from her coughing fit, but he wasn't sure what it could be.

The lights began to flicker, and after a moment, the entity appeared in the corner of the room. The group's eyes darted to it, only to see that after a few more flickers from the light, she was gone. The lights flickered even more, and the creature reappeared on the other side of the room, staring at them and seeming to breathe heavily. The group shifted their gaze towards it to be ready for any movement it made, only to see that after the lights flickered again, it was gone.

"Where's she going to appear next?" Dipper asked rhetorically.

"I could see this turning into a game of whack-a-mole," Wendy said, "Whack-a-Ghost?"

With that the lights flickered again, this time turning from the pale blue to an ominous dark red. And with that, the creature appeared in front of her, almost nose-to-nose. She still could not see the ghost's face through the hair, but she could tell she was looking her in the eye.

In an instant, the creature grabbed Wendy by the shoulders, darted across the room and pinned her to the wall roughly four feet from the floor. Its touch burned, and she thought it was going to break her bones if the creature pressed any harder.

From here, however, she could now see the thing's face.

And she then immediately wished she hadn't.

From what she could make out, her one exposed eye was a wide, black, soulless pool almost like that of a spider's. Her teeth were gnarled, chipped, and broken into a hideous smile, and the rest of her face...no, Wendy's mind would not let her perceive anymore awfulness. She could feel her brain shutting down and her senses going numb as she gazed into the one exposed eye of the entity.

Just then, a beam of light emerged from the bottom of the entity, and she let out another ear piercing shriek. Pacifica was below them, holding out a silver compact, which was seemingly sucking the ghost into it. It let out one final scream as its arms and hands finally disappeared into the mirror, dropping Wendy to the floor. Pacifica quickly shut the compact and held it tight, as though she had just caught an animal in a small cage.

"That was amazing, Pacifica," Dipper said, "I was worried we didn't have one of those."

"After that night," Pacifica said, "I thought it might help to keep one with me just in case."

"Thanks for saving me, Paz," Wendy said, sounding grateful although she wished she could have gotten out of it herself.

"You're welcome, Red," Pacifica said, and the two hugged.

"We're not out of the woods yet," Dipper said, "We still need to find that keycard."

"Agreed," Pacifica said, "This place gives me the creeps."

"I don't know if these psychics were really held against their will," Wendy said, "I saw a video in the other room, and they looked right at home in their little weekly cult meeting."

"I was just reading one of their diaries," Dipper said, "And it sounds like they might have been doing some experiments on them as well. Perhaps, they were trying to dull their senses while also attempting to amplify their power in some way."

"Well, let's look for the damn card already," Pacifica said, "The sooner we get out of here and back on the trail for Mabel, the better."

The three looked through the lab, searching under tables and through cabinets, not finding anything. Eventually, Dipper looked in the corner of the room and just below where the ghost had emerged, he found the slumped over body of one of the scientists. He shouted to the group to come and see as he looked her over; she was clearly not alive. She wore a white lab coat and a mid length business skirt; her matted dark red hair hung in her face. She no doubt looked remarkably similar to the ghost that had attacked them. After looking her over again, he found that there was a badge hanging off of her jacket. As he attempted to take it off, he was tempted to part her hair over to see who she was.

"DON'T LOOK AT HER FACE!" he heard Wendy shout from behind him. She and Pacifica joined him after he had called to them. They both looked at Wendy, mildly shocked as they were not used to seeing her in such a scared state. But they did not ask why, nor did Dipper question her command. He just took the badge and got up. He read the name on it.

"Mary Tudor," he said. He looked at the face on the card; she looked to be about in her mid 30's with a nice smile and long dark red hair. He looked back at the body only to find that it was gone. He squinted and wondered what this could mean.

"Come on, Dipper," Pacifica said with some impatience, who was now standing in the hallway with Wendy, both of them ready to leave. Dipper followed them out, walked down the hall, and swiped the card. The three then left the area and into a now fairly well-lit hallway that made them take a sharp turn to another set of double doors.

There was a faint, muffled scream from Pacifica's compact.

"I'll release you later if you promise to behave," Pacifica said to it under her breath.

The compact was silent.

"There's a good ghost," she said. She then looked at the gorgeous designs on the compact. It was of fine craftsmanship, the best her family could buy. Her family name was engraved on top of it, making her twinge slightly, thinking about her parents. She did also wonder if she could customize it to say "Pines" instead.

 **And yes, I was drinking a Bloody Mary while I wrote this. I had a lot of inspiration for this chapter. I guess it'll be another game of "Spot That Reference!" I've also been reading a lot of Journal 3and am trying to use some elements from that in this, such as Wendy being related to the Lumberjack ghost from the Northwest Mansion; and yes, I included Dipper's real name. Oh yeah, and apparently Dipcifica is hinted at in the Journal as well, namely in Dipper's possible feelings towards Pacifica. Seriously, though, thank you everyone who is continuing to read and comment. I really appreciate it and am always overjoyed to see new readers. My hope is that one day I might inspire someone to make something great (probably far greater than my writing). And I would love to see someone who could draw something based on one of my stories; wish I could find someone to take commissions for it. Anyways, enjoy.**

 **PS: Watch Stranger Things when you can. It's well worth your time.**


	7. Mabel's Escape

**Sorry, I didn't have time to get this edited. So, if there are grammar problems with this, I apologize in advance. I'm just happy I got one chapter finished in one session. I'm also not sure how well I write Mabel, as it's hard for me to think like her. I just have to think in terms of randomness and how to basically brighten a bad situation, like putting makeup on a monster and make them look even more ridiculous. Anyways, here's a new chapter for the Labor Day weekend.**

Mabel opened her eyes to a blinding florescent light above her head. She blinked a few times and found that she was about 25 feet above the ground, her arms in shackles hung from the nose of a large stone statue. The room she was in was vast and dark. She squinted a bit to try and see the faint shapes below her, but this was in vein.

"Greetings!" shouted a bald woman in an elegant silk robe who suddenly appeared in front of her. There was an evil grin on her face. She too was 25 feet above the ground, but nothing was holding her in place; she was clearly levitating.

"Gah!" gasped Mabel, "Don't do that, whoever-you-are! Maybe a cough or a clap or a simple hello before you jump in front of me."

"Nice to see that you're finally awake," the woman before her said, "We've anticipated your arrival."

"And you didn't bring out the fanfare?" Mabel said sarcastically. She looked to her left and right and saw four other bald figures floating in unison with the woman in front of her, a bright light from the ceiling each illuminating them. "And what's with everyone being bald? Some people can really make it work for them, but is hair against your religion somehow? I think that would be a hard practice to follow unless you got it laser removed from your head. Oh, oh, can you unlock these cuffs? I really want to paint something on your head."

"Ha," the woman laughed, picking up on the sarcastic tone, and the other bald figures laughed with her in perfect unison pitch and breath. "You're a funny girl. But now that you're awake, we can ask you what you might know about one of your little friends who is on their way here."

"If you think I'm going to tell you anything about my friends here, you've got another thing coming," Mabel replied.

"Oh, we already know where they are," the woman said, "We were thinking of another friend of yours..."

"Our eyes are everywhere," one of the men said. Save for some facial features and skin tones, it would have been hard to tell them apart from one another.

"We can see through the Deep Ones' eyes," another woman said.

"And we can see into your mind," one of the other men said, "If we concentrate hard enough, you're an open book."

The floating group bowed their heads and closed their eyese for a moment. There was an awkward silence for what felt like an eternity to Mabel.

"Umm," Mabel uttered, confused, "Do you guys need a nap?"

"NO!" the same man said, and all of them raised their heads and shot her the same angry look, "Our minds can see into yours now!...We see that you're thinking about how your friends are how they're doing, that you feel like your bra is stabbing you in the chest, and that you're wondering what the Dagon statue behind you would look line in one of your sweaters with makeup and glitter on its face."

"...Wow," Mabel said, "You're good."

"But we don't see any sign of the Mexican Gulf merfolk king, save for your memories," the other woman to her left said.

"Are you talking about Mermando?" Mabel asked.

"Indeed," the woman in front of her said, "Since you humans opened a second gate to New Y'ha-nthlei, it has renewed the war between the merfolk and the Deep Ones. But soon we will have the upper hand. Once your land dwelling friends arrive, you and them will be the perfect sacrifice Lord Dagon needs." She looked down, and as her eyes had finally adjusted to the oddly lit room, she could see that the other workers were all seated on the massive floor in front of her. Seated among them were various fish people, which Mabel assumed were the Deep Ones of which the bald figures spoke.

"Ia! Dagon!" the workers and Deep Ones all shouted, their faces seemingly in some hypnotic trance.

"What if I told you we didn't taste good?" Mabel asked, raising an eyebrow and trying not to laugh nervously.

"That matters not," the woman said, "You and your friends have brilliant minds and have accomplished much, even in your young lives. That is what he will feed on, the intangible. Now, don't try to think of a way out of here. Your fate is inevitable. We can see what you are thinking and will know instantly if you come up with a clever plan."

There was yet another long pause as the four figures just stared at her creepily. Their almost inhuman staring made Mabel the most uncomfortable.

"So..." Mabel began, "We just wait here for them?"

"Yes," the woman said frankly.

Mabel looked down for a moment. It had been years since she had seen Mermando. He was coming here? What would she say to him if she saw him? Her heart was fluttering. But first she needed to find a way out of here if she was ever to rejoin her brother and friends. But how? This wasn't some Tim Schafer video game where she could look through her inventory and find the right item to get out of this situation.

Suddenly, there flashed upon her mind an idea.

In fact, it was a whole load of ideas, and she was counting on these bald psychic psychos reading all of them.

She first thought about how nice Cheerios tasted; sure they were bland at first, but put them in chocolate milk, they were wonderful (to her; Dipper didn't care for them in chocolate milk). There was also the fact that she thought about mass marketing her Mabel Juice; she could probably get Pacifica's help with that as well. It would have to come with a pink dinosaur. It just kind of made it what it was, because a pink plastic dinosaur has its own unique taste. And her mind then turned back to the world she saw when she last ate Smile-Dip (which she recently ordered again off of ; it was like Surge soda in that it was making a comeback, but it did make her wonder why it wasn't government regulated, given its chemical properties). She thought of orange mountains against a pink and green flashing sky, all these rivers and streams of orange soda flowing through the rich neon green and blue landscape. Aoshima, the armed dolphin who fired lasers, floated through the sky as well. Was the future really in the past, or did her past self make that up those eight years ago? The praying mantis did look good on her fresh cut lawn. Dqg brx, ghdu uhdghu, duh vwloo uhdglqj wklv orqj dvv sdudjudsk? L zrxog kdyh wkrxjkw brx kdg jrw eruhg dqg vnlsshg wr wkh gldorjxh. And she did know it was amazing when the famous purple-stuffed worm from Flapjaw Space with the tuning fork did a raw blink on Hara-kiri Rock! She needed scissors! 61!

"AGH! What are you doing to us!?" the psychics groaned in perfect unison, holding their heads and looking away from her.

Perfect. Now that she had destroyed their thought process by overloading their brains with the same junk that was in hers, she needed to give them a place holder. Her mind then flashed to something she and Dipper encountered when they were younger (or was it in a dream?): the giant talking Axolotl.

"The Axolotl..." the psychics said in unison, turning their heads skyward. The workers and Deep Ones on the ground did the same. They continued like that for some time, still mumbling "The Axolotl" over and over again.

And that was the break she needed. She began to flip upwards, arms still chained to the statue's "mouth." She planted her feet on the thing's forehead and began to slide the chain back and forth on the statues tooth. Eventually, the rusty chain gave way and shattered. She ran down the back of the statue, the cuffs of the chain still on her wrists. She would either find a way to break them off or turn them into glittery bracelets, one of the two. She looked back and saw the group was still looking at the ceiling and mumbling to themselves.

That's convenient enough, she thought.

She ran across the room and through one of the electronic sliding doors and into the connecting dark hallway. She had to find her friends and tell them what happened. A combination of fear and excitement built within her as she ran, as it always had on their past adventures.


	8. Hallways

"But there's only so far I can go\When you're living in a hallway that keeps growing\I think to myself\5 more minutes and I'll be there\Inside your door\But there's more to this story\Than I've been letting on." - Anne "Poe" Danielewski

Dipper, Wendy, and Pacifica continued down another dark hall. The layout of this place still made no sense to them. How big could this place really be? Dipper's theory that it was more illusionary than anything else made more sense as they progressed.

"We've been walking down this same stupid hall for the past five and a half minutes," Pacifica groaned while looking at her phone's clock and stifling a cough, "When's it going to end? My feet are starting to hurt."

"I don't know," Wendy said, looking through the darkness for any possible threats, "But I'm tired of it, too."

"Let's sit for a moment," Dipper said, "We need a moment to recuperate and think this through. What happened to all the doors? And is there a map?"

"I've got a map on my phone," Pacifica said, "But it's not matching what I'm seeing here."

Dipper looked over at her as she said this. The color had not returned to her face since the ordeal with the mirror ghost's attack. There were also huge dark bags under her eyes, as though she had not slept in days. Even in the dim light, Dipper could see her skin was somewhat clammy. The same dark fingerprints from the ghost still remained on her neck. She held her hand to her mouth again and stifled a few more coughs.

"Hey, Pacifica, are you okay?" Dipper asked, concerned. He lifted his hand to her forehead, brushing aside her bangs.

"Yeah, Paz," Wendy responded, "You're not looking so good."

Dipper held his hand to her forehead. She was hot to the touch, and he could feel sweat dripping from her scalp.

"I'll be fine," Pacifica said, agitated, and pushed Dipper's hand away from her head, "And even if that thing back there gave me some sort of cold, I still look gorgeous...right, Dipper?"

"Right, right," Dipper said nervously while trying to smile at her.

"Good answer, nerd," she responded and kissed him on the forehead. This was then followed by her immediately covering her mouth again for a few more coughs.

The truth was that she felt awful. Whatever this was, she felt sicker than she ever had in her youth. She could feel the tension building in her chest, as if something were pushing its way through her. It was as if her lungs wanted to evacuate from her body via her throat. The fact that she felt hot and achy did not help. It brought her back to memories when she was sick as a child, when she would stay in bed most of the day and the help would bring her food and medicine. Her mother, Priscilla, would occasionally give the help the night off to come and bring her various necessities. She would even sit with her, stroke her forehead, and sing to her before Pacifica would nod off to sleep, no matter how in pain she felt. Even Preston, in spite of his "busy schedule," would occasionally come and see how she was fairing. For all their greed, selfishness, and unreasonable demands, her parents did show moments of genuine kindness towards their daughter. Perhaps, when all this was over, would she give them a call and attempt to reconcile with them? Did they deserve another chance?

No, she thought, they were too awful, and there was a reason she distanced herself from them.

Suddenly, there came a noise from the dark end of the hallway from which they came. It sounded like some sort of lion roar mixed with a bull's grunt.

"What the hell was that?" Wendy asked, spinning around and alert.

"That doesn't sound good," Pacifica said, eyes wide.

Dipper recalled something and realized he recognized this situation. He flipped through his journal and found an old magazine clipping from the 1990's he had pasted into one page.

"Have either of you seen or heard of the Navidson Record?" Dipper asked.

"I've watched part of it," Wendy said, "Caught it at one of Thompson's house parties years ago, but we were too busy wreaking havoc in his living room to watch it."

"I saw it once in between semesters last year," Pacifica said, "Looked very student film-ish to me."

"Well," Dipper said, "What you saw was the edited version for the public. It actually happened. And in those twisting hallways, they actually did find their 'minotaur' in that maze of hallways, only it wasn't actually a minotaur so much as a manifestation of their own fears incarnate. And of course, it wouldn't have shown up on film as it was mostly in their heads."

"And you think that's what's behind us?" Wendy asked, raising her ax higher. Another roar echoed through the hall.

"Any paranormal deterrents up your sleeve on this one?" Pacifica asked.

"Actually, no," Dipper said nervously, "How does one fight their own inner fears come to life?"

And the three then saw something at the end of the hall through the darkness. It looked like there was indeed a bull's head, but surrounding it were long, writhing, twitching black tentacles. Pacifica could tell it was looking at her. There was something in its monstrous eyes that made her think of the disapproving look her father would give her, his angry shouts echoing through her head.

"In our heads or not, this looks pretty real to me, Dipper," Pacifica said.

"Run!" Dipper said, grabbing Pacifica's hand, and the group ran further down the hall as the creature made another unnatural roar and charged at them. Wendy got behind both of them in case she needed to hack at a tentacle or two and buy them some time.

As they continued to run, the hallways made very agitating twist and turn one could find, ranging from the average sharp left or right turn to a semicircle back around to the opposite direction. It also seemed that the doors they would pass constantly rattled and would occasionally fly open and shut on their own, but they couldn't let that distract them. They had to keep running from the ever gaining 'minotaur.'

At length, they came to a hall that took on a zig-zag path one might expect to find in an amusement park spook-house. They kept running, but right as they reached the end, one of the doors flew off its hinges.

"Look out!" Wendy shouted and jumped out of its range. Dipper, unfortunately, was not so lucky, as the door knocked him in the back and caused him to land face first. The door itself landed against the opposite wall and seemed to absorb into it, almost as if it had created another room, but there was however an empty room where it had been.

This gave the creature enough time to catch up to the group. It lashed one of its tentacles and ensnared Dipper's ankle.

"Let him go, creep!" Wendy shouted and swung her ax into the tentacle holding Dipper. It roared again and lashed out another tentacle, slamming her in the gut and knocking her into Pacifica, which sent both of them sprawling to the floor.

Dipper grabbed the opened door frame as the creature pulled at him. While struggling, he noticed he could see some debris in the darkened room and among it a pair of jagged looking scissors. There was his answer if he could just reach them. As he reached for them, he could see the creature lifting its 'head' towards him. It had changed from a bull's to a more triangular shape with a large eye in the middle.

It had taken on the form of none other than Bill Cipher.

"Hello, Pine Tree! Remember me?" the creature said, although some of the inflections in speech and the gelatinous echos from the voice gave the telltale signs that this was not the real deal. "Oh, I've missed you! Now you can finally join in the party in the Nightmare Dimension forever and ever!" It then moved so close to him that he could feel the creature's breath on him. Or was that only the air from the vents? Either way, this being of nothingness felt very real to him, and he had to make it let go.

Dipper reached out once more and grabbed the scissors at last.

"You're not real!" Dipper screamed as he slammed the scissors into the creature's tentacle that had wrapped around his leg. It felt as if he were stabbing the floor. Thankfully, it was enough to cause the creature to let go and recoil in pain. Its head changed from Bill's to one that looked almost octopoid but covered in glowing red eyes. This gave Dipper enough time to stagger to his feet. Wendy and Pacifica had also regained their composure and were ready to move again.

"Are you okay?" Pacifica asked, very concerned.

"Yeah," Dipper said, "but I think that thing's not done with us." The creature came back out from the dark of the angled hall behind them and began chasing them again. "Let's go!"

They finally came to what appeared to be a normal hallway with a doorway at the end. On the right wall were two elevators. Pacifica immediately pressed the button to call one (there seemed to be only one button, which unfortunately did not indicate which direction). Thankfully they had some time to wait for it, as they had made some headway against the monster.

"Come on, come on, come on," Pacifica said impatiently.

Dipper went to end of the hallway while Wendy guarded the other end in case the monster appeared sooner than expected. He opened the door, and just as he did, a familiar faced jumped out at him.

"DIPPER!" Mabel shouted, throwing her arms around his neck, "I found you! I found you!"

"Oh, Mabel," Dipper said, "Thank God you're alright."

"Mabel?" Pacifica said, looking up, a slight smile returning to her face.

"You're okay!" Wendy said excitedly, but she did not want to take her focus off the now dark corridor from which they came.

"So glad I found you all," Mabel said, "And I've got some news for you guys!"

"Great, but it's going to have to wait," Dipper said, "We've kind of got a monster of a situation on our hands here."

At last, as they heard another closer echo of a roar down the hallway, the elevator door opened, only to show them nothing but a darkened elevator shaft.

"No, damn it!" Pacifica screamed, and just then, the creature appeared from the hallway. It roared once again, darted straight past Wendy at surprising speed, and headed straight for Pacifica who stood directly at the empty cliff of the shaft.

"Oh, no you don't," Dipper said, running over and pushing Pacifica against the floor, only to have the creature knock him into the elevator shaft.

"Oh, no!" Mabel said.

"Dipper!" the women all shouted in unison, and with that the creature turned its attention back to them. It whipped out its tentacles and grabbed Pacifica by the waist, arm, and leg to where she could no longer keep her balance.

"I'm still here," Dipper said from the darkness, holding a pipe lining the wall just below the entrance of the elevator door. He had to think fast. What could he do?

"Help!" Pacifica shouted.

Wendy hacked at the thing, causing it to let go slightly, and kicked it into the darkness of the elevator shaft. Mabel fired her grappling hook at the thing and hit it with the blunt portion of it before recoiling the hook line to try and fire again.

Dipper had to think of a more permanent solution to getting rid of this thing. He was still holding the gnarled scissors in his free hand. He looked down at the handle and saw that there was an inscription on the handle. It read, "Property of the Butterfly Royal Family," only the name of the family was crossed out with the word "Ludo" etched into it. This caused him to remember the case file on his desk back at the university.

"Back the thing into the elevator shaft!" Dipper shouted, "I have an idea." He reached out his arm and began opening and closing the scissors. Now at a 90 degree angle from his head where he had snipped the scissors, there formed a bright light and what looked like a circular opening into what looked like a massive void of stars. He could have gotten lost staring into it but tried to keep his composure. His guess was correct that these strange scissors could tear holes in space time and lead to other possible dimensions!

Meanwhile, Wendy continued to knock the creature further back into the darkened elevator door frame. Pacifica was now free from its grasp and regained her composure. Mabel fired her grappling hook into the ceiling, making sure it was now caught on something. She then propelled upwards, swung for a moment and built some momentum.

"Okay girls, on the count of three," Mabel said, "One!"

"Two," Pacifica said.

"Three!" Wendy screamed. And the three in unison kicked the weakened beast of indiscernible shape into the darkened shaft, Mabel from the air and Wendy and Pacifica from the ground. The monster let out one final shriek before falling into the portal Dipper had opened. It lashed out its tentacles to the edges of the portal and attempted to hold on for a moment.

Dipper saw this but knew it would not be long before the portal closed on its own. He attempted to grab one of the beasts tentacles and push it into the portal, only to be met with another tentacle knocking him from his station and down into the darkness below. The portal closed, sealing the creature in whatever realm Dipper had dropped it, but Dipper's screams could be heard from the shaft before terminating in the sound of water splashing.

"Dipper! Tell me you're alright, buddy!" Wendy said, rushing over to the edge.

"Oh no," Mabel said, also rushing to the edge, "I just found you! Please don't tell me I already lost you again!"

"Dipper," Pacifica muttered, coughing again and running towards the elevator shaft with the group, "Dipper! Oh, please answer! Dipper!" Her heart sank as she gazed into the now dark empty void. She finally confessed her love to him (and made love to him) yesterday. Could she have already lost him to this horrid place? No, her mind kept telling her, he has to be okay, he has to be okay, he has to be okay.

Suddenly, there came the sound of another splash and a voice gasping for air. The group felt a slight sense of relief, but was he still okay? How was he to get back up to them?

 **Okay, so I took some liberties with the House of Leaves Minotaur. And yeah, it kind of turned out a little cheesy, but hopefully still entertaining. I would at least hope I get the same reaction one would get from watching a Stewart Gordon or Sam Raimi movie. Nice fun entertainment. Anyways, enjoy. And thanks again for reading.**


	9. Shoggoth Attack

**Sorry I didn't post this sooner. Last week was my birthday, and I didn't get any writing done unfortunately. (Although, not for lack of trying; couldn't focus) Anyways, another chapter done before the creepy holiday finally comes upon us. Hope you enjoy.**

"From absolute stupor, they appeared to be, all at once, aroused to the highest pitch of excitement, and rushed wildly about, going to and from a certain point on the beach, with the strangest expressions of mingled horror, rage, and intense curiosity depicted on their countenances, and shouting, at the top of their voices, 'Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!'" – Edgar Allan Poe

"Dipper, is that you?" Pacifica asked down into the elevator shaft after hearing the gasp, "Are you okay?"

"Please be okay, bro-bro," Mabel muttered.

"I'm okay," Dipper replied, his teeth chattering, "It is friggin' cold down here!" The water in which he was wading was unbelievably icy. Unfortunately, there was nothing on which he could climb.

"Don't scare us like that!"

"Lost my grip," he said, "Not sure how I'm going to get back up."

"Do you see a ladder anywhere?" Wendy asked, "There may be a service pipe or something as well you could climb."

"Nothing yet. I'll keep looking."

"Just be careful down there, okay, dork?" Pacifica blurted out, "Who knows what's down there. If you die, I'm going to bring you back to life, sue you, and then kill you again."

"I'll be okay. Don't worry." Her words gave him at least a small chuckle. Dipper then proceeded to look further at his surroundings. While there was nothing above the water, he did notice that the elevator door below the surface of the water was open with a service light in the flooded hallway. "I think there might be a way I can get through one of these lower hallways back up to you all. But I'm going to have to swim through here. Can you all wait up top for me?"

"Wait?" Pacifica asked facetiously, "Seriously?"

"Don't worry," Wendy interjected, spinning the ax in her hands, "I'll hold down the fort, so long as the hallways don't change on you and you find a way up here fast."

"Are you sure you're okay to swim down there?" Mabel asked, "Sounds like it's really cold. I remember, when we were kids, I filled our swimming pool with party ice and swam in it for a little while. It wasn't the best decision I've ever made."

"Mom and dad really should not have shown you Titanic at a young age." Dipper looked back down at the opened flooded elevator door below him and shuddered once again. He immediately thought about how painful it was going to be to swim through there. Not to mention, what sort of monster might he encounter down there.

He was not looking forward to this in the slightest.

"Okay," he said, "here I go." Diving into the water, the first thing he felt was the sting. It was as if a thousand tiny piranhas were attacking his face. The salt, or at least he assumed that's what it was, made his eyes sting in the worst way, but he still had to see what was ahead of him. He swam through the flooded door and saw flickering electric lights overhead. In front of him was a small stairway that lead to a landing that was thankfully above the water.

He swam straight for the stairs and climbed to the landing. The change in air had made the chill he felt all over him even worse. He sat on the ground, curled up, and shook violently to hopefully get past the chill. He looked over and found sitting next to him some old, raggedy but thankfully heavy blankets and, not thinking too hard about it, wrapped himself up in them.

This was way too convenient, but he wasn't about to question it too hard.

He looked over and on the far wall what looked like a large storage trunk and next to it, a table. On the table was what looked like an old typewriter with an ink ribbon. He questioned why it was there for a moment before trying to dry off and prevent any possibility of hypothermia.

To the left of the table was another small alcove that lead do a door.

Feeling as dry as he could be (although he was still freezing), Dipper arose and checked the trunk. There was a colt .45 inside, along with some other strange weapon Dipper did not recognize. It looked like some sort of ray gun similar to Ford's, although it had what looked like pronged claws coming from the muzzle and alien writing on the side of it. He took both just in case. Who knows what was down here with him? He did what he could to strap the alien-looking weapon to his backpack, but it was pretty cumbersome.

He then proceeded through the door but not before writing "Dipper waz here" on the typewriter just for fun.

Proceeding through he door, he found himself on a catwalk of what looked like an old boiler room. There was an ominous red glow coming from below him, and he almost expected Freddy Kruger to hop out at him and deliver a bad one-liner. There was, however, something slithering between the boilers, some black mass that Dipper could not identify. He knew he had to keep moving and did indeed see a doorway across the catwalk, but something compelled him to look down and see what this thing was. He leaned over the rail to see what it could possibly have been, but despite the red lighting, there were still plenty of shadows down there.

Finally, he saw something twitching in one of the shadowy corners of the room, something that was clearly very large that clung to the wall and looked like it was taking some deep panicked breaths. Was it panic or was it anger?

He then saw that the thing opened its many red glowing eyes, and from several of its jagged-toothed mouths, the creature said "Tekili-li! Tekili-li!" the very sound Dipper had heard from his dreams. He began to back away from the railing, but it was too late; the creature had already noticed him and was moving out from the shadows. The creature then shot up from the ground floor and up towards the catwalk, which made Dipper wonder how the hulking black tentacled mass with red glowing eyes that was now clinging to the ceiling could have confined itself to such a small corner earlier. It was as if a subway train had shot upward from the floor, if said subway train were some hideous, indescribable monstrosity. He was almost certain that this was one of the infamous shoggoths about which he had read in the logs of William Dyer from the Miskatonic University library.

He would be sure to add an entry about this thing in his journal, that is, if he survived.

The creature then lurched its gelatinous body over the rails and onto the balcony, and all Dipper could do was run for the door. He opened it to be faced by yet another dark hallway. He ran forward, pulling out a flashlight from his pack and shining this way and that to see where he was going as the creature chased him, all the while the creature made hideous shrieks and moans that echoed off the walls.

Was this going to be the equivalent of the entire adventure, monsters constantly chasing them down hallways?

Finally, as it seemed like the creature was fully gaining on him, Dipper came to another door with the words EMERGENCY HATCH on it. He opened it to find a narrow tunnel leading upwards with a ringed ladder, the kind he would have expected to see in an old military bunker.

What other choice did he have but to go up?

He immediately started climbing upwards. The monstrosity's cries continued to echo through the small alcove, and Dipper knew he had to move faster. At least this area was well lit. But as he made his way halfway up the ladder, sure enough, the shoggoth had oozed its way through the emergency hatch and was now chasing him again.

It lurched its way up the ladder towards him, the echoing cries of "Tekili-li! Tekili-li!" seeming to pierce through his eardrums. The monster came closer and closer, but it did not seem like Dipper could climb fast enough.

Suddenly, the creature lashed out one of its tentacles and attempted to grab Dipper by the leg. Dipper's reaction was to try and move out of the way, what little he could in the narrow tunnel, but when he did, he bumped the alien weapon against the wall. What happened next shocked him, both literally and figuratively, as a ray of lightning shot forth from the weapon, singing the back of his leg and making a direct hit on the creature's tentacle behind him. It let out a final shriek before immediately retreating back down the tunnel and through the door.

Dipper caught his breath as he cringed from the new injury in his leg. Alone in silence once more, all he could do was keep moving forward. He finished climbing the ladder to be met with a door. He could hear something behind him, the whispered words "Tekili-li. Tekili-li." and knew that he should not linger there for much longer. He opened the door and found himself in what looked like a small server room, the only lights coming from the small LEDs along the racks. A low hiss resonated around the room.

He immediately closed the door behind him and unlatched the alien gun from his backpack, although he wasn't sure how to effectively use it. Still, it would function pretty much like every other gun, right? He held it at the door, just in case the creature decided to start its chase again. He thought he heard the same low "Tekili-li! Tekili-li!" shrieks through the hissing from the servers. But that's when he realized what he was hearing was coming from the door behind him. It was a collection of grunts, shouts, and screeches, along with some familiar voices.

His friends were behind this door.

He threw open the door to find Wendy and Mabel fighting off these bizarre bat-winged creatures with humanoid insect bodies and the heads of vultures, Pacifica crouched between them, coughing up a lung. Wendy was doing well in knocking each one out and causing them to evaporate into light with each swing of her ax, while Mabel then pulled a Spider-Gwen by firing her grappling hook into the ceiling and then delivering a massive kick to one of the creature's faces.

Pacifica saw Dipper emerge from the door and immediately ran to him. Only she didn't so much greet him as she yanked the alien gun from his hand and, in one quick instance, pressed some of the green buttons on the side of it, aimed and fired a bright flash of lightning at the group of creatures. The weird bat bird insect monsters convulsed in a flurry of chain lightning before exploding in a burst of light that brought some illumination to the otherwise dark hallway. What was then left was a greasy spot on the floor and a few small fires.

All Dipper could think was, "What the hell?"

She then turned to Dipper, dropped the heavy golden weapon to the ground, and threw her arms around him.

"Oh thank God," she cried, "I'm glad you're back up here."

There obviously wasn't any time for them to be shocked by what just happened.

"I'm glad you made it back up here in one piece, man," Wendy said.

"Was there ever any doubt?" Mabel asked rhetorically, "He's my brother after all. Yeah, so after you left, these other weird things started coming out of the walls and ceiling. I would have loved to have taken one home as a pet, but they weren't exactly friendly."

"I had a feeling they weren't going to be," Wendy continued.

"Glad you're all okay at least," Dipper said, gently pulling Pacifica off of him for a moment but then turning to her, "But how did you know how to use that thing?"

"I saw it on my last visit here," Pacifica explained, "Ford wanted to bring me, McGucket, and the girls to come see what the team found. We spent a few days testing it and seeing what each button would do on it. McGucket thought he could do something with it, like harness some new electrical energy or whatever. I just thought as long as we can mass produce and market it, I'm good with whatever he was doing. But when I got a chance to touch it, I got this weird feeling of deja vu, and it wasn't just that I had like, I don't know, been in that situation before, but more like I had walked into the past or something. It was as if I had used this thing in the past or in some other life or a dream."

There was a long awkward silence.

Mabel broke it by enthusiastically shouting, "Whelp, time to move on."

"Yeah, I'm ready to get out of here, too," Wendy replied, and they began moving down the hall again. Dipper picked up the strange gun again and handed it to Pacifica.

"Here," he said, "since you know how to use it, I'll leave you in charge of it."

"Thanks," Pacifica said, "I didn't want to be a third wheel there while they were fighting the monsters, but this damn cough is really getting to me." She hopped up and kissed him. "I'm glad you're okay, nerd, but don't scare me like that again. Stay with us, okay?"

"Okay," Dipper said, smiling. And with that, the two followed Wendy and Mabel down the hall. From behind him, however, Dipper could swear he heard the whispered words "Tekili-li...Tekili-li..." once more and had the gut wrenching feeling the shoggoth would make its return before the adventure was over.


	10. Meanwhile in Antarctica

Meanwhile

October 11th, 2020 – Antarctica.

It was a bright clear blue sunny day as a snowcat plowed across the snow covered plains. The vehicle had done this for roughly two hours since leaving the base at the edge of the western peninsula. Its destination could not be too far inland unless the driver's electromagnetic reading GPS was completely off.

"You think we're going to be there soon?" Stan asked, "I can feel my bones starting to freeze."

"It shouldn't be too far now," Ford replied, "I'm guessing that this anomaly will be underneath near one of the ice caves our scout drone found earlier. Besides, I at least had the heater fixed in this thing last night. Aren't you feeling it?"

"Yeah," Stan groaned, "But the stupid thing can only do so much."

"Wait," Ford said, "I think this is it." He stopped the snowcat and immediately rushed out to see the entrance of a beautiful blue and white cavern. He pressed a button on his wrist, bringing up the hologram map to show that this was indeed his destination. "Ha! I was right."

"What's so important down there?" Stan asked indignantly, "It better be something to the equivalence of a gold mine."

"It's actually more of something I hope doesn't reach the surface," Ford said, "But we need to examine the status of it and assess how much of a threat it could be. I know the US Government has their Mt. Rushmore deterrent, but I don't believe it's going to suffice." And upon saying that, Ford's phone immediately received an IM; it was from none other than PoorlittlerichNWgirl.

It read:

Ford, thank you for finally giving me Dipper's real name; I know I pestered you about that for years, but I wouldn't have felt right otherwise not knowing. Anyways, we had a good night last night...I'll just leave it at that. We're heading to the facility now. I'll let you know the status of our visit or if we find anything unusual. Hope you and your brother's new expedition goes well. Thanks again.

"Good on you, Mason," Ford said to the air.

"Okay, so what do we do if this oh-so-important-thing-that-should-not-come-out...comes out?" Stan asked, "What are WE going to do about it?"

"I can at least warn the Pentagon about any immediate threat," Ford responded, "I have no doubt FBI director Cole will get his top agents on it...as long as he can still hear me."

"Ha, I guess your time at McGucket Industries allowed you to make nice with them," Stan chuckled.

The two made their way into the cavern, flashlights readied. There was a narrow slope leading down into a blackened, gaping maw. The two proceeded with extreme caution as to not slip. Even still, Stan's nose began to tingle, causing him to sneeze and immediately lose his balance. He fell and rolled into Ford, and despite the spiked treads in his shoes, the two began rolling down the slope further into the blackness and off a small cliff. They then landed on a troupe of penguins who had found their way down there, one letting out a loud squawk as Ford landed on it.

"Ugh, I think I need another hip replacement now," Stan groaned, trying to sit up. Ford began sitting up, too, letting the penguin on which he landed free. It stood there, looking him in the face, and after a moment of silence, gave an indignant squawk before belly-flopping and diving into a nearby watery opening in the cave floor. The other penguins followed suit and were gone. Ford decided that this must have been how they had arrived there to begin with but wasn't about to dwell on it too hard.

"Sure you're going to be okay?" Ford asked.

"Are YOU going to be okay?" Stan threw the question back at him, "You're not in top shape either, you know."

"I just know I've got to find this thing," Ford replied, "I'll pay the medical bills later." The two arose and continued through the darkened cave made of pure ice. Ford continued to wonder how long it would be before global warming would cause all of this to melt and flood the planet, but he pushed the thought out of his head and tried to concentrate on where he was putting his feet.

Stan continued to wonder what the hell could be so important that they would risk life and limb for this. Sure, even in his mid seventies, he could easily climb up to the roof and fix his satellite dish, but this was clearly much more strenuous. All he could think was that this had better be worth it.

After climbing several small landings, they eventually came to what looked like a dead end. Ford looked up and saw a small opening in the ceiling. Stan gave a slight nod to one shoulder, indicating he was ready to give his brother a boost to reach it. He cupped his hands, ready for Ford to take a step.

"By the way, how did you get the funds for this trip?" Stan asked, "This expedition couldn't have come entirely out of the McGucket budget."

"Funny story that," Ford replied, stepping into his brother's hand and then reaching up to the cave opening, "I ran into Cathy Crenshaw a few weeks ago."

"That girl who kept calling you a freak through middle and high school?"

"Yes," Ford continued as he pulled himself through the opening in the ceiling, "She ran into me on my last visit to New Jersey. I was in a coffee shop, and she recognized me and struck up a conversation. I guess it must have been my hands that gave me away. She then profusely apologized to me about her behavior when we were young. She invited me back to her estate, which she inherited from her late husband, who just so happened to be involved in Antarctic research. I told her I had plans for going to Antarctica fairly soon, and she agreed to fund the project." Ford leaned down and pulled Stan through the opening in the cave's ceiling. As Stan gained his footing, Ford continued. "We then talked for a little bit, and she went on to continue to apologize about how she couldn't have seen the potential in me before, simply judging me by my deformity. And then...um..." Ford trailed off. It was one of the few times he was at a loss for words.

"You remembered your Viagra, right?" Stan asked, giving a chortle.

"Anyways, moving on," Ford said, and the two continued through the cave. On a curved, upward slope, Ford thought he could see some light. His GPS began making an even louder beep as well. Whatever it was, it was close. The two readied their pickaxes and climbed upward to the beautiful blue light shining inward and off of the ice. It looked like the entrance to some fantastic crystal palace.

As the two reached the top of the slope and began to climb over, the immediately found that it led to another steep slope and fell downward, this time sliding a bit more smoothly, allowing for less painful chaos. They then found themselves in a colossal blue and white crystalline ice chamber, the sun reflecting through it and giving the room a cool, calming essence. In the center of the room, several more penguins surrounded a large lake, and in the center of the lake was a gargantuan block of ice.

Covering the ice block were the creatures Ford recognized as Shoggoths. Through the centuries, they had evolved into smaller versions of their former selves, similar to the ones described in Michael Shea's writings on the Shoggoth Lords, as they tried to imitate the new forms of life in the current age. Right now, it looked as though they were eating away at the ice block, paying no attention to the two men or the penguins. There appeared to be a much larger object within the block, but Ford could not make out its shape.

"Well, this doesn't look good," Stan groaned, pulling himself to his feet, penguins squawking around him.

"I don't think they're interested in us," Ford replied, standing as well, "They want whatever is in the ice."

In an instant, there came a great rumbling, and the Shoggoth Lords scurried into the water. The ice block burst into pieces, some of which landed next to Stan and Ford, causing the penguins to scatter. When the ice dust cleared, the twins could see it was none other than Time Baby in the center of the ice who then let out a deep, guttural, ear-piercing "WHAAAAAAAA!"

"It's exactly what I feared," Ford stammered, removing his hands from his ears once the sound cleared, "The Time Baby the kids wrote about has emerged."

"You needn't worry, Stanford Pines," Time Baby answered, having recovered from his tantrum, "My regeneration and reawakening does not yet signal my time to reclaim this world as my own. I am here due to a possible anomaly within the fabric of your reality."

"What could this possibly mean?" Ford responded to the enormous infant who towered above him.

"Within the waters of what you humans call the Bering Strait," Time Baby began, "a group of Dagon followers have sought to bring the Great Old Ones into this realm."

"My facility..." Ford stammered.

"They have already begun their ritual," Time Baby continued, "Their leader, a man named Indrid, had enlisted five powerful psychics who he thought would have some possible strength in communicating to the entities across the void of our reality. Something has changed, however, and now the psychics are leading the charge. If they are able to succeed, it would no doubt cause a tremendous fissure in space-time."

"I trusted that man, but it seems he was just as crazy as the cultists he researched," Ford said, and then panicked, "The kids are headed there now."

"We gotta warn them," Stan replied, "Get them on he phone. They need to know what's going on there."

"You won't be able to reach them," Time Baby explained, "They have already crossed into the halfway point between this world and the next."

"What would you have us do?" Ford asked.

"I will need to face this creature myself," Time Baby said, "But my power has weakened, and I cannot transport to those co-ordinants."

"One of my employees is working on a transport device," Ford replied, "Let me check and see if it could possibly transport an object remotely." He then pulled out his phone and contacted the McGucket lab through video chat. Candy answered. "Candy, hello."

"Hello, Ford," Candy replied sweetly, "Staying warm on your trip though the ice caves?"

"Trying to, anyways," he answered, "How is Grenda's teleportation device coming? We need to know if it can remotely transport an object from one random global point to another."

"You mean, like on Star Trek?" Candy asked, raising an eyebrow, "I'm not sure that it's quite that advanced." There was a flash of light, causing Candy to look the other way. "I think she's back from her awesome castle round trip." There was an excitement to her tone. "BMO, if you please, check on our friend."

"Yes, Miss Chiu," a robotic voice very similar to her own replied, and the camera moved away from her, seemingly running to the side of the table and peering over at Grenda, who was now lying on the floor and attempting to stand.

"See, I wanted to surprise you all with that," Candy said.

"UGH," Grenda moaned, "I NEED TO WORK ON MY REENTRY!"

"Grenda, it's Ford," he said though the screen on BMO's face, "I can see your transporter works fantastically."

"WELL, ASIDE FROM IT TOSSING ME THROUGH IT LIKE VEGETABLES ON A STIR FRY PAN," she responded.

"Can we use it to transport objects from random locations?"

"IT'S NOT QUITE THAT ADVANCED. IT NEEDS AN ACCESS POINT IN ORDER TO LOCK ON TO OBJECTS. IF I HAD SOME SORT OF SATELLITE THAT COULD BEAM ANYTHING I WANTED ACROSS THE GLOBE..."

Ford had an idea.

"Hold that thought and let me call you back," he said and hung up.

"Who are you calling now?" Stan asked.

"An old contact," Ford retorted, "He is a fellow para-science enthusiast and a bit of a shut in. He also seems to have some access to alien technology similar to what I found in the bunker in Gravity Falls." There was an answer on the video feed. "Mothman, this is Sixer."

"Mr. Pines, it's been a long time," Dib Membrane replied.

"Indeed it has. Listen, we are working on a transport device, but we need it to be hooked to multiple orbital satellites. I know that you've used various monitoring satellites in the past. Could those be repurposed to use teleportation nodes?"

"Theoretically, that sounds possible," Dib said, "I'm not sure how well they would work for..."

"Dib, dear," another voice replied behind him came, "could that be Ford calling you?" The bluish indigo-haired woman poked her head over Dib shoulder. "Ford, is my husband telling you that my satellites aren't able to accomplish something?"

"Good morning, Tak," Ford responded and explained the plan again to her.

"Ha," Tak laughed, "You would be amazed how seamlessly Irken technology can adapt to your primitive devices. This task will be ridiculously elementary. I will have no problem attaching these receivers to our orbital monitors. Give me an hour, and I can fly to each one."

"Thank you both so much for your help," Ford said graciously, "Please call this number and let them know that I sent you." He then gave Tak the number for Candy and Grenda's lab and disconnected the call.

"Wow, she sounds pleasant," Stan groaned sarcastically.

"She's much more charming once you get to know her," Ford said, "Irkens are a very proud but interesting group." He turned his attention to Time Baby. "We thank you, Time Baby, for your assistance in this grave matter."

"And your assistance in leading me out of this icy prison is also appreciated, puny human," Time Baby replied, "Now, I request that you now provide me with 10 gallons worth of cow's milk."

"I regret to say that we did not bring that with us," Ford responded.

Time Baby then let out another ear-piercing cry. Through the noise, Ford tried to focus and sent a text to Grenda to send as much milk as they could as part of the first teleportation test.


	11. The Cyclopean Tower Rises

**Well, better late than never. Wanted to come back to this series after writing so much Star vs the Forces of Evil stuff; I missed it, as I still miss the real Gravity Falls series. But, apparently, Alex is releasing a graphic novel for which I'm very excited. Anyways, enjoy. More to follow soon. Also, my Star story, "Reality Fracture," is actually an indirect sequel to "One Last Night of Peace" for those who are interested.**

The group continued to make their way through the halls, the lights still dim and the carpet still damp. After everything that had happened, there was still a collective agitation between them. It still felt like they had been walking in circles.

"If the hallways keep shifting," Dipper began to ask, "how are we going to get where we need to go?"

"I was able to find you guys," Mabel answered, "It can't be that hard, right? You know those puzzles with the shifting pictures that are supposed to make a larger picture? I don't always have an idea of how to get them all in place, but I know if I keep shifting them around enough, I'll get it all to line up right. This is just like that. We just gotta keep moving, and we'll get where we need to go." She paused and thought for a moment. "But where are we going?"

"That's what I'm wondering, too," Wendy responded, "I'm going to say what Dipper normally does in that we need to come up with a game plan now. Do you guys think we've bit off more than we can chew and should try to head back to the boat to get more help? Or should we try and put a stop to these monsters? I'm actually hoping we go for the latter…would love to bust some more heads."

"I'm with Miss Gingerhead here," Pacifica agreed, lifting the alien lighting gun at the ready, "Now that I know how to use this thing…for some reason…I'm ready to fry some fishmen or tentacle demons or whatever weird creatures attack my favorite nerds." But upon saying this, she immediately broke into another coughing fit, one violent enough to cause her to bend over, holding her chest. Dipper and Mabel rushed over to her to keep her steady again, but her coughs continued to the point where it looked as if she had coughed something out onto the floor. It was too dark to see what it was, but it looked to be dark in color. Pacifica wiped her mouth, trying not to make it too conspicuous and either cause the twins to worry further or otherwise compromise her pretty demeanor. "If this cough doesn't kill me that is."

"It won't," Mabel said with deliberateness and assurance, "We're all going to get out of here in one piece. The merfolk are coming to help put a stop to this, we're going to turn back the tide of these monsters…yes, the tide pun was intended…and then my brother is going to take you out to dinner afterwards." She jabbed her brother in the ribs, but she really didn't need to pass on the message. He was already planning on that once they got back to the mainland.

"That's right," Dipper followed, "My treat. Anywhere you want to go."

"I'd like that," Pacifica answered with a smile, raising her head and looking into his eyes. She could have spent all day staring into them if she had the chance.

Suddenly, the group felt a rumble through the halls, the small earthquake causing them to stagger. They each looked around for a moment, wondering about the source of this tremor, all before finding that a new door had appeared in the wall to their left.

"Was that door there before?" Wendy asked.

"I don't think so," Dipper responded, "but at the very least, it's a new direction we can take."

"Anything's better than wasting our time going in circles," Pacifica said.

"We got nothing to lose," Mabel squeaked, "Why not?"

Dipper edged near the door, Pacifica holding her gun and Wendy her ax in front of them, ready to take on anything that might spring out at them. He opened the wooden gateway to find it lead to a walkway outside, winding along the side of the facility.

"Well, looks like we found an exit," Dipper chimed with some excitement.

"Ugh, finally," Pacifica groaned, "I was so sick of seeing the same drab carpet pattern over and over again."

"You and me both, sister," Mabel retorted.

"I'll take point," Wendy said, "Need to be sure there's nothing out there waiting for us." She moved ahead of the group and stepped through the door, still holding the ax in front of her. She looked around and found nothing but the crashing waves, dark clouds, and heavy rainfall. The air was still bitingly cold, and the smell of brine was prevalent. "Nothing so far! Come on guys, but watch your step! It's kinda slick!" She was having to shout over the massive wind that rocked the side of the walkway, forcing her to hold the railing.

The group proceeded through the opening behind Wendy, Pacifica at the rear with the gun ready in case anything were following them. She shut the door behind the group as each of them attempted to keep their composure during the storm. As they rounded the corner, they found what had caused the violent tremor. Between the two halves of the facility was another walkway that was now cleaved in two. Between them was what looked like a colossal cyclopean citadel, looming over the facility like some gargoyle over the side of a cathedral.

"Perhaps those psychics were able to make that rise after all," Mabel inferred.

"I guess we have no choice but to head there," Dipper shouted into the wind. There was some sort of added vibration and thumping sound the group felt as they proceeded, but they decided it must be the storm.

"And what do we do when we get there?" Pacifica asked.

"I may have some banishing spells in the new journal I brought with me," Dipper answered, "Perhaps once we get to some sort of node, we might be able to send them back where they came from. But that's just speculation."

"I'm counting on Mermando's group to get here sooner than later," Mabel said, "They gotta have some deterrent against these angry fish monsters." The thumping sound and vibration continued, this time louder and more violent. This time they couldn't ignore it until finally, the threat made itself manifest.

Pacifica was the first to see them as they crawled from behind the wall of the facility. What she saw were what looked like two gargantuan crabs, each appearing to be roughly 50 feet tall, complete with huge, menacing pincers. The creatures continued to crawl her way while she prepared to fire a lightning blast at them.

"Uh, guys," Pacifica moaned, "We've got company!" The group turned around and saw the monstrous crabs as well.

"Run," Dipper shouted, and the group raced along the walkway towards the bizarre citadel. They did their best not to slip, though it was difficult with the driving rain and accumulating moisture at their feet. They finally made their way to the curve that had once linked the one half of the facility to the other, the crabs hot on their tails.

Pacifica fired a bolt of lightning at the closest creature, only to have it ricochet off the large crustacean's claws and into the sea, frying several salmon and yellowtail. In almost the same instant, the creature reached down and picked up Pacifica in its claws, lifting her into the air. Dipper immediately drew the revolver, but he knew it would do him no good. Mabel, on the other hand, quickly fired her grappling hook up to the monster's claw, hooking it within the pincer, right next to Pacifica's side. She grappled up to her and attempted to pull the pincer apart to free her, only to have the monster bat her back down to the walkway, though thankfully maintaining her hold on the grappling hook. Pacifca still struggled to break free, but then she thought from a moment about where the creature's weakness could be. She thought about the crab legs she had eaten at the expensive restaurants to which her parents had taken her. The lightning gun was still in her hand, a golden ticket to her freedom. Her finger held down on the trigger of the weapon before finally releasing it, a tremendous burst of lighting hitting the tender spot between the armor.

The crab screeched and flailed its arms, tossing Pacifica into the air. Dipper acted fast and ran for her. Thankfully, she landed in his arms, at which time she instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck to hold on. As the creature still flailed and screeched, falling into the other giant crab behind it, Pacifica turned around to yell at it, still in Dipper's arms.

"Eat that, crab cakes!" she shouted, "I'm not going to be the blonde bimbo that dies in a horror movie! I will sue you for all the…whatever you elder beings use as currency! You want anymore space lightning? I've got more right here!" She then turned her head back over to Dipper. "But I wouldn't have picked a better landing." She gave him a quick peck on the cheek before he lowered her to her feet.

"We'd better hurry," Dipper reminded the group, and they proceeded to run again as the crabs recovered. They proceeded through an opening in the weird citadel, whose biomechanical walls felt cold and hard, similar to smoothed marble. Fortunately, it was small enough that the crab's claws could not reach through. Eventually the beast gave up and turned away, disappearing into the storm.

"I guess there's no going back now," Wendy said.

"Anybody got a flashlight?" Mabel asked. Dipper reached for his and turned it on. The walls, floors, and ceiling of the area seemed to consist of the same material as the outside, swirling and twisting in weird patterns that would confuse the eye if one stared at them for too long.

"I'm ready to fry whatever stupid monsters come our way next," Pacifica grunted, still full of adrenaline from her last encounter, though it was clearly not the healthiest thing for her with what occurred next. She then began to cough again, Dipper patting her back. She then coughed up more of the red liquid, only this time she couldn't hide it. Dipper could clearly see what it was, and a wave of concern washed over him.

"We need to get you back to the mainland fast," he said.

"Right, we would like our Paz to stay alive and healthy," Mabel followed.

"If you need to rest or take a step back at any time," Wendy continued, "let us know. None of you are getting hurt on my watch."

"I'll be okay, guys," Pacifica assured them, "Despite severing myself from my parents, I'm still a Northwest, and you know we're determined as hell. Now, come on; let's kick some monster ass." The group then proceeded further into the dark hallways of the cyclopean structure.


End file.
